


A Cosmic Encounter

by kumakitten



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-04-11 07:31:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4426691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kumakitten/pseuds/kumakitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank lives a relatively normal life - if getting the shit beat out of you every day counts as normal, that is.</p><p>His world is totally turned upside down when Gerard Way, the weird new kid, appears in his life. Gerard is not what he seems - Frank's not actually sure he's human, and his suspicion will be proven either correct or false in just a short amount of time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still going to be updating Faith is Unavailable along with this. This story is going to be much more lighthearted as time goes on, as a kind of escape from the angst and darkness that is FIU. Anyway, I hope you like it, I'm actually not so sure what I'm doing with this but maybe it'll turn out alright! Who knows? :)

“Shut the fuck _up_ , Frank!”

Frank’s sweet mother screamed at him, just before she slapped him lovingly on the cheek. He flinched involuntarily, though otherwise his face was carefully blank, eyes cast downwards. He could feel his knees wanting to buckle and give in, though he was not about to do that.

“Stop acting like such a brat, you’re fucking seventeen. Almost old enough to get the hell out of here!”

Tears didn’t spring to his eyes like they should’ve. Frank was numb to everything at this point, so used to his mother’s abuse. It just felt like a routine at this point; yes, it still hurt, and yes, it was still terrible, but was it anything new?

“You know what, I’m finished with you. I can hardly even stand to look at you anymore!”

His mother ended her attack for now, and though she’d only slapped him this time - he’d had far worse before, especially when he had tried to stand up to her once - Frank still felt like shit. The numbness could only last for so long, and then his stupid _feelings_ made themselves known again.

With his small amount of strength, Frank balled his fists up and clenched his teeth.  
“Love you too, _Mom_.” Frank spat out venomously before running to his room, slamming the door shut behind him and making sure to lock it. Sadly, they lived in a shitty one-floor apartment so Frank still wasn’t that far away from the monster who’d created him, but there was a wall and locked door between them, and that was enough.

Frank didn’t have any friends, he honestly had no mother, and his father had died four years ago. The only person that had truly loved and cared for him, taken by lung cancer. A cruel death for such a kindhearted person.

Sometimes Frank wondered why his father would have ever married his mother, but he knew that she hadn’t always been like this. The abuse had started as soon as his father passed, as if it was Frank’s fault his father had decided to start smoking at fifteen.

Frank had considered smoking before, just to spite her, but then he realized that his father wouldn’t have wanted him to, and thus it would have been counterproductive. But if his father died, then why shouldn’t he as well?

Frank thought all of this, laying flat on his back on his small, uncomfortable bed. He stared up at the ceiling, pretending like he didn’t notice his eyes getting suspiciously wet with tears. It wasn’t from the abuse.

Everyone always used to say how much they looked alike, and if that was true, it would explain why his mother hated him so much now. It hurt to look at him and see her dead husband, even if he’d helped to create him. You’d think that it would be the opposite, but his mom’s mind worked in strange ways.

Frank sighed, his eyes flicking shut slowly. Frank honestly hated himself and didn’t see why he should even exist on this earth any longer. Would his mother miss him? Nah, she’d just miss having her own personal punching bag. And aside from her, Frank literally had no one else.

His dad, who was probably up in Heaven, would be sad that Frank hadn’t attempted to live his life, and knowing him, Frank would end up in Hell and not get to see him ever again anyway. If anyone deserved to go to Heaven, it was definitely his father.

He’d taught him guitar, drums, how to write songs; he’d given him a purpose in life, his love for music. He’d taught him how to ride his bike when he was young, he’d always help him with his homework. He’d ruffle his hair when he was sad, give him that loving smile and say, “It’s alright, Frankie. The world may be ugly, but you’re everything to me.” Then he’d hug him.

Frank missed his dad so much.

With that final thought, he closed his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep.

When he opened his eyes and turned on his side, he looked over at his clock on his shitty excuse for a bedside table. _3:30 am._ He must have ended up falling asleep for a little while, after all.

Frank knew he was getting no more sleep at this point. He got off his bed, looking over and seeing his coat hanging off his bed precariously. He knew he should probably put it on if he was going to go out into the cold, but his self-destructive side wasn’t having any of it, and so Frank bypassed it completely.

He found himself making his way down the road, the streetlamps illuminating his path in spots, just enough so he could see. He shivered in the cold, really regretting not grabbing his jacket, arms crossed and hands moving up and down on them quickly in an attempt to get heat flowing.

He’d just made it to 4th Street when a strange shuffling noise filled the air, without warning and without reason. His eyes grew wide as he turned around, looking around for a source.

Nothing.

Frank shrugged and kept on walking; not his problem. 

Not long later, Frank found himself in a forest, no recollection of arriving here, but not caring in the slightest. Frank wasn’t home, and that was all that mattered.

He’d probably freeze to death out here. That would be a really stupid legacy. _  
Frank Iero: Dead at seventeen from freezing in the cold weather of New Jersey on a Tuesday morning._

Frank scoffed, making his way through the leafy forest, sitting down, back against a tree. They could make a shitty headline like that if they wanted to.

Frank shut his eyes without even thinking about it, fatigue overtaking his body out of nowhere. It felt nice to be able to sleep without being in constant fear of his mother beating the shit out of him.

As he had been drifting off, the sound of rustling in a nearby bush jerked him back into reality, eyes looking around blearily for the source of the noise. Maybe an animal, or something?

What Frank saw wasn’t an animal, though; it was another human being, or what appeared to be one.

Naturally, Frank screamed.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down!” The figure tried hushing him, holding their hands up, a startled expression on their face. “I am not going to hurt you, look, I am sorry I--”

“Who the fuck are you?” Frank breathed, pretty sure he was on the verge of having a panic attack. His nerves were already shot to hell thanks to his mother.

The figure shifted uncomfortably.

“I cannot tell you my real name yet, so we will just go with...Shadow, for now.”

Frank snorted, the shock wearing off. He decided he’d probably be better of standing, since this Shadow person was. 

“Okay, _Shadow_. What do you mean by _yet?_ ” He asked, dusting his pants off, annoyed that so much dirt had decided to stick to them.

“Do not ask any questions,” Shadow frowned at him, seeming upset by the situation. As if he were the one that just got the shit scared out of him. Well, Frank assumed that Shadow was male, anyway; his hair was so long that it was kind of debatable.

Frank tilted his head, considering it.

“What is it that you are thinking about?” Shadow asked, moving from foot to foot. It was weird, how he really did look like a shadow now that Frank got a closer look at him; his body looked completely black since it was totally dark in the forest, and with his dark hair and clothes, it wasn’t a bad nickname for him. 

“Nothing, dude. That is, if you are one?” Frank asked bluntly, having no brain to mouth filter.

Shadow blinked a few times, looking at Frank blankly.

“I am male, if that is what you are asking.”

Frank nodded. “Right. Now that that’s over with, you are indeed a human?”

Shadow’s eyes grew wide at that, and Frank just laughed it off.

“Of course you’re human, I was messin’ with ya,” Frank informed him airily, waving him off. After a bit of silence, he smiled mischievously, walking a bit closer to Shadow. “That is, unless you aren’t?”

Shadow laughed, though it sounded extremely forced. “Human, right. _Homo sapien_ , and all that, of course.”

Frank raised an eyebrow at that. “What the fuck?”

“Nothing,” Shadow sputtered, face a bit red from what Frank could see in the impossible darkness. “I, uhm. Okay, well I originally followed you because you looked upset--”

Frank blanched. “You followed me?” He now wanted nothing more than to run away from this potentially crazy fucker, but his feet seemed rooted to the spot.

“Well, yes, but you looked considerably melancholy--”

“Okay, first of all, stop with the big fucking words,” Frank managed to get out, holding up a finger, eyes still wide. He held up two fingers. “Second of all...get the fuck away from me.”

Shadow looked extremely saddened by that, but Frank didn’t even care. He ran as quickly as he could away from him, the _creature_ , Frank didn’t even fucking know. He just ran until he could run no more, only stopping when he was out of breath.

He found himself back at his house, and he rolled his eyes. Away from one potential monster and back home to the other. 

***

The next day, Frank awoke in his bed with no recollection of what had happened the day before. It was as if something had wiped his memory clean, and no matter how hard he tried to remember, nothing was coming up.

All he remembered was coming home from school and getting throttled by his mom. That was it. Had he simply fallen asleep after that?  
It seemed like the only reasonable answer, and Frank’s alarm clock was blaring, so he really had to get to school and stop dwelling on shit that didn’t even matter. He shut the device up and got ready as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, the Monster wasn’t awake yet, so Frank made it out of the house with a poptart in hand and without any fresh bruises. He could walk to school without flinching in pain, at the very least.

School was rather dull, but it was free from abuse. Frank didn’t actually get bullied a whole lot, thankfully, although it was more like no one ever acknowledged his existence. 

It wasn’t until lunch that things got kind of weird, actually.

There was this new kid sitting at the exact table that Frank usually sat at, and Frank’s initial thought of course was _what the fuck_ , because it was the furthest table away from everyone and was reserved exclusively for outcasts.

He ended up sitting there anyway, of course, because where else was he gonna sit? He sat his tray down, looking up at the dude.

He was pretty feminine, but Frank could see a bit of stubble on his chin so he was convinced that the person was male. His inky black hair swept just past his shoulders, and his eyes were a bright greenish-brown. Hazel, kind of the same as Frank’s own eye color was. Frank somehow felt like he knew him, though he couldn’t place it at all.

The dude had a blank look on his face until Frank quirked a brow at him, then he seemed to come to life.

He smiled a bit, though it was lopsided. “Hello.”

Frank gave him a half-assed wave. “Hi. You new or something?”

 _Great attempt at talking, Frank!_ He thought to himself, feeling like an idiot already. 

The guy grinned, but it still looked wrong somehow, and it didn’t quite meet his eyes.  
It almost looked rehearsed.  
“Yes, I just moved here recently. I’m hoping to have some friends here unlike at my previous school.”

Frank raised his eyebrows at this guy’s strange way of talking, but didn’t comment on it. It wasn’t as if Frank was a master conversationalist himself. He picked up his slimy piece of pizza, eating it unenthusiastically.

“Uh-huh. You got a name?”

The guy frowned at that, looking genuinely perplexed. “Of course I have a name, why would I not?”

Frank nearly choked on his pizza; this guy took things way too literally.  
“Nah, I meant what _is_ your name by that. You’re supposed to, y’know, respond like this.” Frank grinned animatedly, holding out a hand. “My name is Frank! What’s yours?” He then resumed his natural position, rolling his eyes a bit at this guy.

The guy’s cheeks reddened. “O-oh. Yes, my name is Gerard. It is a pleasure to meet you, Frank?”

He still seemed a bit confused, his mouth in a frown and his eyebrows scrunched up, and he held his hand out for far too long. Frank stared at him, deciding to take his hand and shake it, just to humor him. Poor guy didn’t seem like he was mentally slow or anything, just...fucking weird.

“Nice to meet you, Gerard,” Frank told him, letting go of his hand and picking his pizza back up again, bringing it to his mouth. He’d just taken another mouthful when,

“Your eyes are visually appealing, I greatly admire them!”

Frank _did_ choke on his pizza this time, coughing wildly as he beat his chest with his fist. Gerard’s eyes widened considerably, mouth in a grimace as he leaned over the table and to Frank.

“Are you alright?! Shall I get the nurse?” he asked, pure panic present in his voice. Frank shook his head, coughing wildly again.

“No no, that’s really not necessary,” Frank informed him, voice coming out scratchy. “It’s just...what the fuck, dude? Are you foreign or something?”

Gerard wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You could say that,” he said mysteriously.  
Frank just rolled his eyes, taking a huge gulp of water. He fucking hated choking, why did Gerard have to say that shit to him?

As soon as he could breathe properly again, he sighed, looking at Gerard. “Okay, so where exactly are you _from?_ ”

Gerard looked at him seriously. “Well, not here,” he said simply.

Frank wanted to bash his own head into the table.

***

After lunch, Frank didn’t see Gerard all day. It was almost as if he’d just materialized out of nowhere, solely for the purpose of talking to Frank, as ridiculous as that sounded, because Frank didn’t see him _anywhere_ , and Frank really was quite observant.

He decided not to worry about it, though. It wasn’t as if he really wanted to see him again, anyway, because the dude was fucking weird, and it was as if they spoke two different languages. The last thing Gerard had said was, “Do you actually eat this food as if it will nourish your body?” and Frank had had enough of his strange talking. He wasn’t answering anymore of his weird questions, okay.

School was over as quickly as it ever was, and Frank braced himself for an awful day at home. His mother would more than likely be there, ready to beat the hell out of him, and Frank trembled without even realizing it. The beatings had gotten to him mentally, and there was really no one he could talk to about it to help himself through it. 

On his way home, just as he’d gotten done mentally preparing himself, a blur shot into his vision. He stopped abruptly, eyes widening as he realized what it was.

“Gerard?” he asked stupidly, eyebrows furrowed.

Gerard smiled sheepishly at him. “Hey,” he greeted him, waving a bit. He stood rigidly, like he had no idea what he should make his body do. “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Do you live around here or something?” Frank asked the only reasonable question, still feeling unnerved by how Gerard just...appeared. “I wasn’t aware there were any houses for sale.”

Gerard shrugged; it didn’t look like a natural gesture on him. Frank was _so_ creeped out.

He just looked at Frank, and that was when he realized he hadn’t even answered Gerard’s question.

“I don’t see why not,” he told him simply, beginning to walk again. Gerard smiled, walking beside him at the same pace. It was deathly silent, and though Frank wouldn’t have minded it if he were by himself, there was a person next to him. His anxiety was acting up. Should he say something?

“I have never realized just how wonderful the sky is until today,” Gerard announced out of nowhere, and that was that. At least Frank wasn’t the one looking like a weird idiot.

He made it home fairly quickly, stopping at the front of his driveway that led to his piece of shit home. He turned to Gerard, shrugging. “I’m home.”

“It would appear that you are,” Gerard replied smoothly. Frank didn’t say anything, simply waved a bit at Gerard and turned around, walking towards his door. He was about halfway there when looked over his shoulder to see where Gerard would end up going, but the guy was just...gone.

“What the fuck,” Frank said aloud to himself.

***

Frank didn’t see Gerard in school again the next day.

It was almost as if he’d never even existed, naturally causing Frank to question whether he was ever real at all. Though Frank didn’t have an actual reason to be hallucinating, so it made more sense to him that perhaps Gerard was just really elusive when he wanted to be.

Except he couldn’t avoid Frank all day, because he was bound to see him at lunch, just like the last time. Frank sat at his normal table, tray filled with slop present in front of him, feeling strangely lonely when Gerard still never turned up.

He’d never really craved human attention before, and so he blamed it all on Gerard and his weirdness. It wasn’t really that Frank was lonely, it was more like he was curious about Gerard. That had to be it.

But he couldn’t get himself to believe it as he ate in total silence.

 

After lunch is when things got weird again, albeit it in a different way.

Frank made his way down the hall, blending in with the crowd as usual. There was nothing different about him, nothing to make him stand out. He was just Frank Iero, and they were just whoever they were, and that was that.

Something flickered in front of his vision, though it was gone so quickly he was sure he’d imagined it. Almost immediately after, he felt a light tapping on his shoulder that was most certainly real.

He turned around slowly, hoping he masked his disappointment well. It was some weird lanky kid with brown hair and glasses, not the odd-speaking boy Frank had hoped it would be.

The kid crossed his arms, his gaze piercing. “State your name and business with Gerard Way; ask no questions, or fear for your own safety.”

Frank nearly choked on his own spit. 

“Shall I repeat myself? You will find that I am rather cranky when it comes to noncompliant humans.”

Frank looked around, hoping that someone would see that he was about to possibly get killed here, but as Frank’s luck would have it, there was no one else in the hallway except him and the lanky kid.

He turned back to look at him, heart leaping into his throat when the kid’s eyes flashed _completely red_ , like, what the actual fuck?

 _“Comply,”_ he growled, his voice sounding otherworldly and downright terrifying. Frank had no choice but to give in.

“My name is Frank Iero, and I have no business with Gerard...Way,” Frank told him honestly, frowning. “Hell, I didn’t even know his last name was ‘Way’, for that matter. He never told me.”

The kid glared even harder. “So you did in fact speak with him?”

“Well, yes,” Frank admitted, biting his lip hard. “But honestly, it was only once, and even then he started it.”

“It should be known that Gerard Way is not a human,” the kid spoke assuredly. “Nor am I, for that matter, but that is insignificant. He is not permitted to speak to any human life forms as of now, and as such has been taken into Custody. I only need to know what your conversations consisted of, so that I can have a better chance of bailing him out.”

Frank’s eyebrows rose, taking in all the information. It certainly made sense, if nothing else, that Gerard wasn’t a human, but now Frank couldn’t help but to wonder what he even was, and who this kid was. He seemed to want to help Gerard, so that was a good thing at the very least.

“We just talked at lunch,” Frank spoke honestly, holding the kid’s gaze evenly. “He said he’d just moved here and wanted friends, unlike at his previous school. He told me his name and I told him mine, we talked a little bit about the lunch room food, and then I didn’t see him again until we walked home from school--”

“You said you only interacted with Gerard once, with no mentions of a second time,” the kid cut him off sharply. Frank flinched; he hadn’t really thought about the second time they spoke as, well, a second time. It seemed more like a continuation, if anything. “Please speak nothing but the truth to ensure helpfulness!”

“Okay, so it was twice,” Frank admitted, waving his hands around wildly. “But the second time was super brief, he basically just walked me home and then said goodbye.” Frank considered what he said, looking up briefly. “Well, okay, and he commented on how beautiful the sky looked--”

“That is all I require,” the kid said flatly, successfully cutting Frank off. He held out his hand to Frank, who shook it immediately. The kid gave a brief nod. “I am Michael Way, brother of Gerard Way, and I would rather not see him suffering because of this minor slip up. I am in your debt for the help you have offered.”

“You’re welcome?” Frank said, a bit dumbfounded. This kid, Michael, had to be at least two years younger than him, yet he was acting like he was fifty. Michael simply turned around and walked off after that, disappearing into thin air.

Frank’s life was seriously fucked up.

***

To say that the day that followed after that was shocking would be an overstatement, honestly, from what had happened to Frank already, but it was most certainly not normal by any means.

For starters, he didn’t wake up in his own bed, which sent off alarm bells in his head. Second, he was in some weird spaceship of sorts, something you would see in a really high budget Sci-Fi movie.

It was totally black in the current room he as in, though the shades darkened consistently throughout the room. All that occupied the room was an oval-shaped bed that Frank was currently in, the stark white sheets up to the top of his chest, a huge porthole window just above the top of the bed and a small bedside table next to him. While the room was certainly bare, it was undeniably pristine.

Frank sat up quickly in the bed, eyes wide and breathing uneven. Was he dreaming, or something? It totally seemed like a weird sort of dream his mind would conjure up, because it totally hated him and loved to scare him.

“Where am I?” He yelled, naturally, which was probably one of the stupidest things he could do, like really, yelling in an unnatural environment? Totally safe. Even if it almost always got someone killed in all the movies he’d stayed up too late watching.

The bay door in the front of the room opened suddenly, revealing none other than Gerard Way in the doorway, a coy smile on his lips.

“Welcome to Gray Station Two, Frank,” he said cheerfully.

“Where the fuck is _that_?” Frank demanded to know, springing out of the bed. Gerard’s cheeks tinted pink, and Frank looked down at himself; his chest was bare, though thankfully his bottom half was clad with boxer shorts.

Gerard turned around. “I will bring you a change of clothes first, then we shall speak.”

“’Kay,” Frank said, because what else could he even do? This whole situation was beyond weird and he wasn’t entirely convinced he was awake.

The door slid shut behind Gerard, and Frank turned around to take in the room again. He climbed onto the bed and, propped up on his knees, he looked out the porthole window. The sky was totally black wherever they were, and it appeared that they were moving at a slow rate.

Frank blinked a bit, just to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating, because honestly? It looked like they were in _space_ , or something. Frank couldn’t believe it.

The sound of the door opening announced that Gerard had returned, so Frank turned his head to look over at him. Gerard was holding a pile of clothes, ones that Frank could actually see himself wearing; jeans and a t-shirt.

Frank allowed himself to smile just a bit, making his way over to Gerard and taking the clothes. “Thanks,” he said simply, noticing that Gerard was still blushing, rather badly at that.

“I will leave you to dress and you can just shout my name out when you are ready,” Gerard said all at once, turning around and leaving as quickly as was possible. Frank frowned.

“He’s still weird,” he decided.

 

A couple of minutes later, Frank was dressed and on the edge of the bed provided for him, Gerard next to him, but not so close that they were touching. In fact, Gerard seemed to want to be as far from him as possible.

“I imagine you must have many questions,” Gerard began, seemingly about to go on. Naturally, Frank cut him off.

“Yeah, here’s a big one: Why the fuck am I in space?” He asked bluntly, frowning at Gerard and crossing his arms stubbornly. “I didn’t agree to any of this. I was supposed to wake up in my own bed.”

Gerard furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “You are unhappy with the arrangement?”

“Not exactly, but it’s fucking...weird,” Frank allowed.

Gerard nodded. “I was about to say, I know of your home situation, and I would imagine you’d be--”

“How the hell do you know that?”

Gerard sighed, biting his lip a bit before continuing. “I’ve perhaps been stalking you for a while now?”

Frank’s jaw dropped. He scrambled away from Gerard as quickly as he could, finding himself almost running into a wall.

“Why have you been _stalking me?_ ” Frank finally asked once he was at the farthest point in the room. The damn door wouldn’t open for him and so he was forced to talk to Gerard.

Gerard simply smiled. “You fascinate me,” he admitted, looking at the floor before meeting Frank’s eyes again. “I just so happened to see you walking home from school one day. I was going to let you go without ever thinking of you again, but then I heard the screaming.”

Frank frowned; there was only one thing Gerard could be mentioning here. The day when Frank couldn’t take the abuse any longer.

“The screaming concerned me,” Gerard said, eyes still on Frank. “I care about humans, even if you are technically below me, because I find you very fascinating.”

“...which brings me to another question!” Frank chimed in, still pretty fucking afraid of Gerard, whatever he was. “What are you?”

Gerard frowned at that, looking down at the ground. “I am what I appear as,” he whispered softly.

Frank tilted his head, keeping his distance from Gerard, but still remaining kind of concerned at his change in behavior.  
“You look rather human,” he observed, because he did. And also, “You look sad.”

Gerard shrugged; the movement still looked kind of unnatural, but it was a step up. “I am always sad,” he told Frank simply. “But I am not human. I may appear as one, because we look so much alike, but I am an alien.”

Frank’s eyes widened considerably, eyes flicking toward the direction of the door; maybe he could try again...

But when his eyes found Gerard again, he had tears in his eyes, and he was looking right at Frank.

“I knew you would judge me,” he sobbed quietly. “Everyone does. Each human I have tried to befriend has done me this way. When all I ever want to do is help them!”

He put his face in his hands, and Frank felt downright _terrible_. While he was still rather apprehensive of this...alien boy, he couldn’t help but feel sympathy for him.

Frank may have been socially awkward, but he knew there was only one thing he could do in this situation. He slowly walked over to the bed, sitting beside Gerard; he didn’t react. With a small, barely audible sigh, Frank put his arms around the boy, even if it could end up being a huge mistake.

Gerard froze; his face was still in his hands, but he was letting Frank hug him, which was something. A few seconds in, he removed his hands from his face, settling them on his lap, looking at Frank in awe.

“What...what are you doing?” Gerard said lowly. Frank rolled his eyes at him.

“I’m hugging you,” he replied simply. 

Gerard nodded slightly, his eyes very wide. They were very pretty eyes, Frank noted. They were more on the green side today rather than brown.

Gerard put his own arms around Frank, his chin on his shoulder, hugging him back, and Frank knew this had been the right thing to do. He’d upset the...man? Alien? Whatever he was, it didn’t even matter. He was another living being, and he did not deserve to feel rejected or have disgust directed at him. 

How did Frank know this for sure? He didn’t, but he had always been taught - by a very wise man - to go with whatever his heart felt.

After their small moment, Gerard pulled away, unsure of how long to keep the whole contact thing going, and when Frank didn’t protest he simply gave Frank this look. Like he had something to say, but wasn’t exactly sure how to say it.

“Yes?” Frank inquired, smiling slightly at Gerard. The clueless thing was kind of cute, he had to admit. Even if it also got on his nerves the other half of the time.

Gerard’s eyes widened, eyebrows going up with the action. “Oh, sorry! It’s just, I was wondering...if you would like to go out and explore the spaceship with me?”

Frank smiled even wider, placing his hand on Gerard’s knee. Gerard looked down at his hand, then back up at Frank.

“That sounds like a plan,” Frank replied.


	2. Adventures in Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter lengths will vary depending on whatever ideas pop into my head. c:

Frank’s mouth was open as wide as it could possibly be without like, breaking his jaw or something.

Gerard’s spaceship was _huge_. That one little room he’d been in before did nothing to showcase the actual size of it, and Frank couldn’t help but be impressed. It most certainly looked like a spaceship, what with the porthole windows and bay doors and the fucking brightness, but there was also something terribly modern about it.

For instance, Gerard had an entire room decorated in Star Wars paraphernalia, which how fucking nerdy was that, he was an actual alien. And then there was another room filled with comic books and figurines and such, which Frank wasn’t totally against.

There was also a living room that was incredibly mediocre, which is where they currently were. It held no more than a white sofa and loveseat with a television mounted on the wall, with a white entertainment center underneath.

Gerard smiled at Frank, looking over his features carefully for any sign of boredom or disapproval. Frank looked around the living room, holding his finger up to his chin.

“Very minimalist,” Frank decided, referring to the whiteness of everything in the room. He glanced over at the door that led to the control room. “Hey, can we go in there now?”

Gerard still seemed stuck on what Frank meant by _minimalist_ , but he didn’t press on. He simply nodded, walking past Frank and leading him into the control room. Frank had only seen it from the outside, when Gerard had briefly opened the door.

It was pretty incredible; there were buttons and gadgets everywhere that Frank had no fucking clue how to work, and he was afraid that he may trip and fall on one of the buttons and make them like crash, or something.

“This is all mine,” Gerard said suddenly, sounding proud. He was sitting in the main chair, looking out at the starry sky. “After I got out of Custody, I decided that living with the rest of the group just wasn’t working for me anymore.”

Oh yeah, Gerard had gotten arrested. Frank had kind of forgotten about that, to be honest, but he nodded anyway, taking a seat beside Gerard. Gerard still didn’t look at him, eyebrows furrowing in thought.

“I never wanted to do it before, because I didn’t want to be alone,” he said quietly. Frank simply studied his features; his eyes were so fucking pretty, and he had this cute little upturned nose. Gerard caught Frank staring, and he looked away quickly, a slight blush on his cheeks.

Frank realized he should probably reply to what Gerard had said. “Well, you’re not alone now.”

Gerard reached his hand over to touch Frank’s shoulder. “No, I am not, but I am sorry for taking you without your permission.”

Frank looked over at him, giving him a small smile. “Hey, it totally beats getting...well, beat. I can’t say that I’m against it, but it did kinda scare the shit out of me at first.”

Gerard frowned. “I am sorry for scaring you. I have that effect on people.” he took his hand off of Frank’s shoulder and looked down at his lap. Man, why did this poor dude -- alien? Alien dude -- beat himself up so much? 

“Hey, stop that,” Frank said softly, reaching out to put his hand over Gerard’s. Gerard looked down for a moment, eyes wide, but still said nothing. “It wasn’t you that scared me, otherwise I never would have talked to you in the first place, alright? I was afraid because I was in an unknown place. Anyone would have been.”

Gerard shrugged. “I suppose you are right,” he said quietly, finally meeting Frank’s gaze. They stared at each other for a bit, Gerard keeping his gaze steady. Frank was certain that his cheeks were pink, but he didn’t really care. Mostly he kind of just wanted to kiss Gerard, but would Gerard even understand what he was doing?

Before he could even contemplate making a move, Gerard spoke up.

“Hey, so I actually have a few...errands to run,” Gerard admitted, biting his bottom lip. God, he looked really cute when he did that, Frank thought briefly. “On Earth...maybe you could help me out?”

Frank’s eyebrows raised at the mention of Earth. So apparently aliens actually went shopping, on Earth at that. Or maybe it was just Gerard. Regardless, Frank nodded.

“Yeah, sure.”

Gerard smiled, turning to look out the large window again. “Alright, I’d suggest buckling up for your own safety, this may be a bumpy ride.”

Frank’s eyes widened as he realized what exactly he was getting himself into. They wouldn’t be floating around aimlessly in space anymore, Gerard actually had to drive this thing. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t terrified, but he nodded anyway, swallowing nervously as he pulled his seat belt over his chest, buckling it into the compartment.

Gerard looked over and made sure he was safely secured, then turned back to his controls and grinned.

“Here we go.”

***

“Do you want a coffee?”

Frank tried to recollect himself what had just happened, still disoriented as hell and honestly not feeling like doing anything at this moment. Coffee was out of the question; with the nausea he was feeling, he’d likely just throw it up onto the café floor.

He shook his head quickly, feeling another wave of vertigo hit him as soon as he did something even as simple as that. Gerard gave him a funny look but turned to face the cashier once more.

“That’ll just be one vanilla bean frappé, then.”

The cashier frowned in Frank’s direction, watching as he walked unsteadily over to one of the tables and sat in one of the chairs, the room still spinning.

“Is he okay?” he asked, concerned. Gerard looked at him evenly.

“He will be fine. It was a bit of a bumpy ride,” Gerard explained, earning a confused look from the cashier. The confused look didn’t cease, and that’s when Gerard seemed to realize something, his eyes widening. “Oh! You are waiting for your payment.”

The cashier quirked a brow. “Yes sir.”

Gerard pulled out his wallet -- it said ‘Star Wars’ on it in big capital letters, what a geek -- and pulled out a ten dollar bill, handing it over to the cashier. He took it, putting it in the register as Gerard stood there awkwardly.

Just when Frank thought he was feeling a little better, a horrid wave of nausea crashed over him, and his face paled.

“Gerard,” Frank beckoned him, his mouth feeling like it was filling up with water. “I don’t feel so good. I think I’m gonna go to the bathroom.”

Gerard looked over at him, frowning. “Are you sick?”

Frank simply nodded before making a beeline for the bathroom, accidentally bumping into a waitress on the way there and knocking the tray out of her hands. She gave him an intense glare, but he made it to the bathroom without any other casualties.

He ran into one of the stalls, not even bothering to shut the door behind him, and vomited into the toilet.

He then turned sideways, pressing his back to the stall wall, reconsidering his life. If this happened every single time Gerard flew the damn spaceship, he was going to have a pretty shitty time. He didn’t usually get sick so easily like that, but Gerard had driven so recklessly that anyone would have.

“Frank? You in here?” Gerard’s voice came from the doorway. Frank sighed, wiping his mouth off and throwing the tissue into the toilet, flushing it down. He then got up, walking out of the stall and seeing Gerard.

Gerard’s face immediately took on one of concern, rushing over to him, his coffee in one hand. He reached the other out, possibly to touch him, but unsure of what exactly he was doing, he dropped it once again.

“You don’t look well,” Gerard pointed out the obvious. Frank sighed, rolling his eyes.

“I’m fine.” he told Gerard, going over to one of the sinks and washing his hands. “Where are we going after this?”

Gerard seemed reluctant to change the topic, but he did so anyway.

“The comic book store,” he replied easily. Frank shook his hands off, looking for the paper towels. Of course, they had to be out, and there was no way he was holding his hands under a damn dryer for thirty seconds. 

Instead, he dried them on his pants, Gerard’s facial expression unchanging.

“Let’s go then,” Frank told him.

***

The comic book store was kind of fun, now that Frank had time to recollect himself. Gerard bought him a few, refusing to let him pay, and then after that they went to get some lunch, as Gerard was hungry and Frank’s stomach finally didn’t feel like a torrential disaster.

They decided on Subway, getting no meat in their subs because Frank was a vegetarian, and Gerard also said that he would like to try that to see how it went. He was ‘quite fascinated with all the animals here’ and ‘couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to eat them’. Frank was inclined to agree, but he still looked around nervously at all the weird stares they were getting.

“Hey, Gee, can you stop sounding like you’re not...well, from Earth?” Frank asked sheepishly, his voice low so that only he and Gerard could hear. Gerard gave him an apologetic look, swallowing the bit of sandwich he had in his mouth.

“Yes, of course, sorry,” he apologized for probably the twentieth time today. Frank rolled his eyes but said nothing, glad Gerard was willing to make an effort to be more human-like.

After Subway, it was obviously time to go to the bookstore, which Frank could absolutely get behind. He’d been wanting some new books, anyway, and if Gerard was paying then he wasn’t going to say no.

That went by without a hitch, which Frank was immensely grateful for. Gerard’s weird ways of speaking and mannerisms didn’t seem to be that off, at least for now, and they only got shushed once when Gerard got entirely too excited over seeing a puzzle with a cat on it.

He ended up buying it, which Frank thought was actually kind of adorable, but he wasn’t going to say anything. 

After all of _that_ , Gerard decided that his ‘errands’ were finished, and it was time to go back to the spaceship. Frank frowned at that, already dreading the nausea.

Gerard stopped in his tracks and stopped talking about whatever the fuck he’d been talking about, looking over at Frank and seeing the foreboding look on his face. Frank stopped, too, standing beside him.

“You do not have to go back with me if you don’t want to,” Gerard said quietly, looking down at the sidewalk. “I know I can be kind of annoying sometimes.”

Frank’s heart clenched for the poor alien dude. He wasn’t annoying at all, and Frank totally wanted to spend more time with him. He simply didn’t want to throw up again anytime soon, that was all.

“Gerard, _please_ ,” Frank began, his voice a bit more exasperated than he’d meant for it to. Gerard looked up at him, eyes searching. Frank sighed, running his hand through his own hair, then started again. “You aren’t annoying at all, I promise.”

Gerard smiled slightly at that, then stopped immediately. “Then why do you look as if you don’t want to go back with me?”

“Because your driving sucks,” Frank said bluntly, Gerard’s eyes going wide. Oops. “Shit, sorry, that isn’t what I meant to say.”

Gerard tilted his head, not looking at all offended. “You’d like it if I drove slower, then?”

Frank blinked a couple of times, surprised that he hadn’t like, hurt Gerard’s feelings or anything. He’d kind of just openly insulted him.

“That would be great, yeah,” Frank nodded, smiling at Gerard. “I still want to go with you, Gerard. I don’t exactly have anywhere else to go.”

Gerard considered that momentarily, before deciding it didn’t matter. He grinned.

“Okay! Let’s get back then!”

He grabbed Frank’s hand suddenly, pulling him as he broke into a sprint, as quickly as he could to the building that they could be picked up from.

Oh yeah, that was another thing that was scary as shit. Apparently, when you wanted to get out of a spaceship, you had to go down this light barrier that defied all gravity and allowed you to float down to safety. Only Frank wasn’t used to that at all, so standing in place and feeling like he was about to fall to his immediate death was a totally normal feeling to have.

Maybe going up wouldn’t be as bad, as long as he didn’t look down.

***

Going up had been just as bad, if not worse than going down. Frank couldn’t help but look over at all the buildings as they went up, nearly puking again from how fucking high they were. He wasn’t exactly afraid of heights, but they were literally being lifted into the sky by a light barrier that Frank didn’t trust at all.

Gerard still hadn’t let go of his hand, though, so that was comforting at the very least. He gave Frank’s hand a squeeze, smiling at him reassuringly.

“I do this all the time, Frankie,” Gerard soothed him, not looking fazed in the slightest. “Nothing bad has ever happened to me, alright? Just relax.”

Frank did try to relax, but as soon as he’d almost gotten used to it they had already reached the spaceship. Gerard went inside, pulling Frank with him and allowing the bay door to close once more.

They stood there for a moment, one of Gerard’s hands in Frank’s and the other still holding all of his shopping bags. He looked down at them.  
“I need to put all of this away,” he said pulling Frank with him automatically. Frank wasn’t at all opposed to it, in fact he was glad that Gerard wanted him around at all times. He smiled at the thought, letting himself be led into whichever rooms Gerard went to.

Once all his stuff was stored away, nice and organized, Gerard decided that the two should watch a movie. Frank suggested a good, wholesome horror film, but Gerard objected to the idea, pulling out Titanic instead.

Frank stared at him. “Titanic, dude? Seriously?”

“What’s wrong with it?” Gerard wanted to know, frowning. “Everyone on Earth has always said how romantic it is. I want to see what romance is like.”

“Well then, you probably shouldn’t watch that crap,” Frank sniped, looking around at his other movies that he’d acquired from Earth. He found the one he was looking for, holding it up. “The Notebook definitely portrays romance way better than that other crap. ‘Never let go’, my ass.”

Frank wasn’t bitter about Titanic or anything, he just really thought that watching The Notebook would be a much better experience for Gerard. 

Gerard didn’t object, so Frank put the DVD in, walking over to the very white couch and sitting beside Gerard on it.

“Jeez, everything in here is so _bright_ ,” Frank pointed out, rubbing at his face. “Could you maybe dim the lights?”

“Oh, of course,” Gerard replied, and with a clap of his hands the lights were off. Frank was impressed. He’d always wanted to do that.

As the movie went on, Gerard became more and more immersed in it, mostly when the couple onscreen were kissing and well, doing other things. He studied their lips, their hands, anything that could possibly help him learn more about humans and their ways of affection.

Frank, on the other hand, was sitting there and trying not to freak out. If Gerard tried any of this on him, it would absolutely work, but nothing could prepare him for if that actually happened. Frank would be kissing an _alien_. A hot one at that.

The movie ended with the poor lovely couple meeting their end, and Gerard turned to Frank as the credits rolled, eyes locked with Frank’s. Frank swallowed, keeping his gaze just as steady as Gerard’s.

“Frank?” Gerard asked softly, bringing his hand up to touch Frank’s face. He was slowly learning about touch, and Frank couldn’t be happier. “Could you...kiss me? I want to see what it’s like.”

Frank’s breath hitched in his throat, but he nodded anyway, bringing his face slightly closer to Gerard’s. “Uhm, yeah, of course.”

Heart thudding rapidly in his chest, Frank leaned in, bringing his hands up to cup Gerard’s face, staring into his eyes before finally pressing his lips to Gerard’s. It was one of his sweeter kisses, since this was Gerard’s first time, and he probably wouldn’t know how to react to a rougher kiss.

Gerard’s eyes slid shut, either mirroring the movie or going off of instinct, as he began kissing Frank back. Frank finally pulled back to catch his breath, panting wildly. Gerard took the time to catch his breath as well, eyes opening suddenly. They were filled with awe.

“That’s...kissing?” he asked, tilting his head in amazement. Damn, did aliens _really_ never kiss? Frank just couldn’t imagine that.

Frank nodded, smiling a little at the expression of wonder on Gerard’s face. “Yup, that’s kissing. Does your kind really not kiss?”

Gerard shrugged a little. “We have other ways of conveying our emotions. But I have to admit...that was really nice.” he gave Frank a cute smile after that, causing Frank to want to kiss him all over again.

But no, Gerard probably wouldn’t really want that. He’d only wanted Frank to show him what kissing was like, he hadn’t said he had like, a crush on Frank or anything. He was just a curious alien dude.

Gerard awkwardly pressed his back to the couch, not moving away from Frank but not really seeming all that comfortable either.

“You can move, y’know,” Frank spoke up suddenly, trying to ignore the feeling of hurt in his chest. “You don’t have to stay so close to me if you don’t want to.”

Gerard turned to him, frowning. “I never said I didn’t.”

Frank shrugged, looking down at the floor. “You just seem so uncomfortable.”

Gerard slipped an arm around Frank suddenly, causing Frank’s heart to nearly leap out of his chest.

“I don’t like seeing you upset,” Gerard admitted, pulling Frank closer to his side. “I was only uncomfortable because I didn’t know what you wanted.”

Frank sighed. Gerard was so forward about things most times, but he didn’t even think to ask what Frank wanted in this case? 

Whatever, Frank wasn’t going to get all hung up about it. It was starting to hit him just how tired he was; today had been a rather productive day, after all, and Frank’s body had suffered for it quite a bit.

He looked up at Gerard. The alien boy didn’t seem tired at all, his eyes alert and fixated on the television, and Frank wondered if aliens even needed sleep.

“Do aliens need sleep?” Frank wondered aloud, causing Gerard to chuckle.

“Of course we do,” he replied, smiling at Frank. “I’m simply more used to these things than you are, silly.”

Frank nodded, yawning widely, bringing his hand up to try and hide it a bit; yawning faces weren’t the most attractive things to witness. 

“Can we watch another movie, then go to sleep?” Frank asked hopefully.

Gerard nodded, unwrapping his arm from Frank so that he could get up, then walked over to the movies. “Not another romance movie, I assume?”

Frank chuckled, relaxing into the sofa. “A horror film would be amazing, though.”

Gerard sorted through his movies as Frank struggled to stay awake, his eyes begging to be able to shut. Gerard finally ended up pulling out Halloween and held it above his head, looking over at Frank for approval.

“That’s fine,” Frank waved him off slowly, eyes already beginning to shut. Gerard turned and took The Notebook out of the DVD player and replaced it with Halloween. He then got up, making his way back over to the couch and sitting right next to Frank, wrapping his arm around Frank once again.

Frank scooted closer to Gerard and put his head on his shoulder immediately, yawning. He couldn’t believe how much he’d done in just one day. He kind of wondered what this all meant for him and Gerard - if Gerard had simply wanted to try kissing, or if he genuinely liked Frank - but he was too tired to care. 

His eyes shut all the way not even halfway through the movie, cuddled up to Gerard as he fell asleep to the lovely sound of screaming coming from the television.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is anyone still reading this? just curious haha


	3. Intergalactic War

Frank woke up the next morning to screaming, much like he’d fallen asleep to. Only now it wasn’t a feminine scream, nor was it a bloodcurdling one that suggested terror. It was Gerard’s voice that Frank heard, yelling about who knows what.

Frank yawned, sitting up on the couch that he’d fallen asleep on, rubbing his eyes absently. His body definitely felt much better now, after some much needed rest, only now his brain had to catch up with him.

He couldn’t make out what Gerard was saying, being in a different room. From the sounds of it, though, he was in the control room. Frank crept off of the sofa, skulking over to the bay door that led into the control room, pressing his ear to it, not thinking of the repercussions of Gerard finding out he’d been spying on him.

“You cannot be serious, Mikey! You are actually going to partake in this...this _blood fest_?” Gerard demanded to know, sounding scandalized. Frank raised an eyebrow at the sound of that. A blood fest?

Frank heard another voice join Gerard’s, startling him and causing him to jump back a bit from where he stood, having to recollect himself briefly.

“It is my duty for which I have solemnly sworn to,” Mikey spoke, voice determined. “ _You_ may have chosen to leave the Group, but that is my home and I will not let us be infiltrated so easily. If you care at all about us I would imagine you’d do the same.”

Gerard let out a breathy sigh. “You know it’s not that easy for me to go back now.”  
Mikey scoffed rather loudly, enough for Frank to hear without it being even slightly muffled. “Oh, right, because of that stupid _human_ of yours that you abducted?”

Gerard was silent for a few moments, and Frank heard footsteps, like Gerard was moving closer to Mikey.

“That ‘stupid human’ is my friend,” Gerard bit back, and Frank allowed himself to smile just a little bit at Gerard sticking up for him. “And at any rate, it would be hard to come back now anyway. Did you not hear what Stump said?”

“Yes, and I agree with him completely, but you would be coming back to help defend us,” Mikey persisted, and Frank could hear the pleading in his voice. “Please at least consider it, Gerard. Black Station Zero needs you.”

And then, a bit lower, he continued, “ _I_ need you. You are the only blood I have left.”

Silence hung heavy in the air before Gerard spoke again.

“I will consider it,” Gerard said shortly. “But first, I will discuss it with Frank. He deserves to know what is happening in case I never return.”

Footsteps made their way to the door, and Frank jumped back quickly, heart thudding in his chest. He ran as quickly as he could back to the sofa, while also trying to be as quiet as possible, sitting down just as the bay door opened to reveal Gerard and Mikey.

Gerard had his fingers through his hair, looking over to where Frank sat, breathing still rather rapid from running so quickly. Mikey looked as deadpan as ever, but he raised an eyebrow at Frank’s rather nervous state. Mikey looked the same as Frank remembered him, when he'd ambushed Frank at school.

“You are awake,” Gerard greeted him warmly. He walked over to the couch, sitting beside Frank, but not nearly as close as the two had been the night before.

Frank allowed himself to glance over at Mikey, who was looking determinedly down at the floor.

“Why is he here?” Frank asked the most obvious question, trying not to let on that he’d heard anything. Gerard sighed at that, looking down at the couch contemplatively.

“There is a war happening as we speak,” Gerard finally explained, looking at Frank as he said it. Frank tried to appear shocked, hoping he was a good enough actor. It was a pretty surprising thing, sure, but he’d heard Gerard’s entire conversation. Gerard went on, his eyes looking troubled. “Mikey wants to enlist me. He is already going to serve, and if I do not follow then it will look as if I don’t care about the Group.”

Frank nodded slightly, taking it all in. He really didn’t want Gerard to leave, especially if there was a risk of him getting hurt, but who was he to stop him? They hardly even knew each other, and the Group was basically Gerard’s family. Not to mention, his actual brother would be going and risking himself.

Frank met Gerard’s eye, trying to make sure the unhappiness on his face wasn’t too evident.  
“Hey, I mean, do what you gotta do, right?” he shrugged, frowning and looking away from Gerard and instead over at Mikey. Mikey shot him an unimpressed look, either from his ways of speaking or him in general. He wasn’t sure.

“I’m still only thinking it over,” Gerard explained quickly, gaining Frank’s attention again. His greenish-brown eyes looked more upset than he’d ever seen them, though it had only been a few days. Gerard glanced over at Mikey, then back at Frank. “I don’t want to leave you all alone here.”

Frank waved him off at that, trying to appear nonchalant.  
“I’d be fine. My mom left me alone all the time,” he explained, giving Gerard a fake smile. “I’ve taken care of myself for a while now.”

Gerard frowned at that, eyes intent on Frank. “I do not wish for that to happen again. That is the entire reason why I brought you here.”

“But wars are important shit,” Frank argued, looking away from the intensity in Gerard’s gaze. He busied himself with looking at the entertainment center, scanning each DVD as he spoke. “I mean...you’ve gotta try and defend your people. One person can make all the difference.”

Gerard was quiet, and when Frank looked over at him again, he was pensive, eyebrows furrowed. Mikey had decided to go over to Gerard’s kitchen, looking through his cabinets for something.

“I’m not sure how long it would last,” Gerard told him, somber. “We’ve never really had a war before.”

“Gerard, listen,” Frank sighed, bringing his hand up to run through his hair. Gerard watched him silently, waiting for Frank to speak. “I already told you, I’d be fine. Anywhere is better than going back to that hellhole with my mother.”

“Gerard, have you misplaced your coffee?” Mikey’s voice came from the kitchen, sounding slightly agitated. Gerard simply shook his head fondly.

“It is in the bottom counter,” he shouted back to his brother helpfully. There was a brief moment of silence and a creaking noise as Mikey opened the bottom counter, finding what he was looking for and shouting back a thanks to Gerard, who simply shook his head once more.

“When would you have to leave?” Frank blurted out. Gerard looked up at him, any playfulness in the situation thanks to Mikey now lost. He mulled it over, looking up toward the ceiling.

“Probably today,” he admitted. He regarded Frank seriously, nervousness overtaking his features. “Frank, I need to tell you some--”

“Your coffee maker appears to be broken,” Mikey yelled from the kitchen, a banging noise echoing down the halls and into the living area. Gerard sighed heavily, glancing at Frank once more before making his way into the kitchen.

Frank didn’t follow him, but he could hear the conversation from where he was sat on the couch.

“It’s not broken, you are just incompetent,” Gerard told Mikey cheerfully, pressing a button that made a loud beep! noise. Mikey grumbled something that vaguely resembled a thank you, and Gerard simply chuckled.

Meanwhile, Frank’s mind was racing. Before Gerard had goten cut off, what was he going to say? Was he going to talk about their kiss from the night before? Maybe it didn’t even have anything to do with Frank and he was just being too hopeful.

He ceased his wondering when Gerard made his way back to the living room, although he didn’t sit back down on the couch this time. Instead, he stood there, looking anxious, picking at his nails. Frank wasn’t aware that aliens also had nervous habits, but it wasn’t all that surprising after he’d gotten to know Gerard a little more. They apparently also had a fascination with coffee, or perhaps that was simply the Way brothers.

“What were you going to tell me?” Frank asked suddenly, trying to make eye contact with Gerard and failing. Gerard simply stood there, frowning. He glanced over at Frank, smiling uncertainly.

“Honestly? It’s nothing,” he lied through his teeth, Frank could tell. Gerard averted his gaze. “I mean, even if it was something, I’m going off to war and I do not need to bother you with the information.”

Frank frowned, feeling a small ache in his chest. Gerard _was_ going to go to war? Even if Frank didn’t even know him that well, they were still becoming friends, and maybe they could have been something more...Frank brushed that thought off as quickly as it entered his brain.

“Okay,” he replied briefly, his gaze turning to Mikey as he walked back into the living room, a Star Wars mug in his hand. Honestly, did Gerard have anything not related to Star Wars in this space ship? Frank looked from him back to Gerard, thinking everything over in his head. “Don’t I need food and stuff if I’m just gonna be stuck here? I can’t exactly fly this thing.”

Gerard nodded simply at that, seeming glad for the change of subject. “Yes, Mikey and I will take you to get all of your necessities.”

Frank remembered something he’d been wondering from earlier, scrunching his eyebrows together in thought. “Hey, how do you guys get money anyway?”

Gerard smirked a little, exchanging a look with Mikey. “Well, we have our ways,” he shrugged nonchalantly. Stealing from Earth must have meant nothing to them.

Mikey nodded, bringing his coffee up to his lips to take a sip. Then he spoke. “As soon as I finish my coffee, we will be going.” 

Frank simply looked at Gerard, sadness in his gaze, biting his lip absent-mindedly. Gerard looked back at him, mimicking Frank and biting his own lip. Frank had to look away, cheeks burning as he remembered their kiss only the night before. Gerard’s lips really had been something else.

And now he may never feel them again.

***

An hour or so later, Frank stood in the middle of a grocery aisle, Gerard and Mikey in tow, watching him as he made his selections. As he was going to be alone for an indefinite amount of time, he had to buy an abundance of food, stuff that would last the longest.

He’d already loaded the shopping cart up with canned goods, and now he was staring at noodles. He was a decent cook, having to fend for himself a lot of the time, so he was sure he could whip something tasty up.

Mikey looked bored, staring down at his cellphone, while Gerard was observing pretty much anything Frank did.

Frank didn’t mind, though. Gerard was going to be _gone_ soon enough, and Frank just wanted to spend more time with him.

“What sounds better, lasagna or ravioli?” Frank questioned Gerard, holding both boxes of noodles up for comparison. Gerard rubbed his chin pensively.

“I’ve never had either before,” he admitted meekly, eyes flickering from each box. He shrugged. “The lasagna looks rather tasty, though.”

Frank grinned. “That’s what I thought, too,” he told him, throwing the box in the cart. Mikey looked up briefly, seeing that Frank was continuing down the aisle, pushing the shopping cart once again.

Mikey was the cart-pusher, Frank was the shopper, and Gerard was the one that helped Frank figure out what to buy. They were a pretty good team, though Gerard got strange looks a lot, especially when he didn’t even know what EasyMac was. 

Their cart was nearly filled to the brim already, with boxes of macaroni and cans of fruits, veggies, and soup. Frank had also decided to stock up on soda, because he could never go without it for too long, and good old junk food never hurt anybody. They were having a sale on the chips, too, and you could just never go wrong with chips.

They eventually finished the shopping when Frank had decided he’d probably be good for a while. Gerard was worried that he may never come back and then Frank would like, die of starvation, but Mikey assured him that it probably wouldn’t happen.

Frank didn’t like the sound of probably, but he was glad that Mikey was at least trying.

Soon enough, they pushed their full shopping cart over to check-out, getting a nice glare from the cashier and bag boy. Frank just glared right back.

“I need this food to last me a long while, for your information,” he told the cashier snappily. She frowned at him, rolling her eyes as she began ringing everything up. It was her damn job, she was getting paid, she shouldn’t have glared at him.

Gerard widened his eyes as he looked at Frank, surprised by his outburst. Frank simply shrugged at him before walking over to the exit moodily, not having to wait to pay for any of the stuff. Gerard watched him, contemplating something before eventually handing his wallet over to Mikey, intending to join Frank.

Frank was nearly at the exit, slowing his pace a little, feeling deflated once his anger wore off. He’d been happy when they were picking out food, but the happiness was crushed when he realized why they were here.

“Hey,” Gerard greeted him softly, capturing his attention. Frank stopped, allowing Gerard to catch up with him. When he did, he placed a hand on his shoulder uncertainly, until Frank made it clear that he didn’t mind the action. Gerard then locked his gaze with Frank’s, eyes sincere.  
“It’s going to be alright, you know. If I come back from this war--”

“ _When_ ,” Frank corrected him, voice monotone as he broke eye contact with Gerard, looking across the store.

“Yes, _when_ ,” Gerard sighed, looking over to where Frank had directed his attention. There was a happy couple, a woman and a man, smiling at each other as they picked out their food. The man said something that made the woman laugh, and she leaned in to kiss him.

Frank felt empty after seeing that. He’d never had anything like it, even though he technically could have. It was just that it was mostly girls that came onto him, never men, and he wasn’t interested in girls in the slightest.

He turned to look at Gerard, Frank’s face flushing when he realized that Gerard was already staring at him, a pensive look on his face. Gerard glanced over toward where Mikey stood, looking as bored as ever as the cashier rang up all the stuff. She hadn’t even made it halfway through the shopping cart yet.

His eyes flicked back toward Frank, smiling slightly. “Do you want to go outside with me for a bit, so we can be alone?”

Frank’s raised his eyebrows. Gerard seemed to implying something, but he also could have been being weird as usual. Nonetheless, Frank nodded slightly before the two made their way out of the grocery store, the door opening automatically for them as they walked out.

Gerard seemed to be thinking something over, twisting his lips in thought. “Let’s go over there,” he pointed in the direction of the back of the building, where no one could see them. Frank nodded, following him.

They were behind the building in no time, Frank’s heart thudding in anticipation. Something was definitely about to happen, given the circumstances, and he hated not knowing things.

“So this is our last chance to be alone before I leave,” Gerard explained, babbling slightly. He gave Frank a shy smile, choosing his words carefully. “I wanted to try something with you one last time. Just in case...”

“In case you don’t come back?” Frank finished for him, frowning. Gerard simply nodded, expression solemn.

“It’s a possibility,” he told Frank. He then got even closer to him, eyes flicking toward his lips. “So, I was just wanting to, you know, try this once more...”

Frank’s heart beat had accelerated, eyes wide. Gerard really _did_ want to kiss him again, oh god, it wasn’t just Frank’s imagination.

Frank wasted no time in standing on his tip-toes and leaning in toward Gerard quickly, grabbing his shoulders as he pressed his lips to Gerard’s forcefully. Gerard reciprocated straightaway, moving his lips in time with Frank’s, their chests touching.

Frank turned them around so that he was practically pinning Gerard against the wall, trying not to force his bottom half into Gerard’s too soon. Gerard put his own hands on either side of Frank’s waist.

Gerard then let out a low moan, surprising Frank. Frank pulled away momentarily, eyes opening as he panted, trying to catch his breath. Gerard’s eyes opened as well, steadying his own breath.

“This is amazing,” Frank spoke up, Gerard’s eyes glimmering with happiness. “I could probably get used to this.”

Gerard’s expression darkened quickly at that, his eyes no longer sparkling. “I wouldn’t,” he murmured, completely killing the mood. Frank sighed, stepping back from Gerard. Gerard frowned at him. “What, Frank? I could die.”

“Don’t say that,” Frank pouted, running a hand through his hair impulsively. “You’re gonna come back from this war, alright? And then, maybe...we can continue this. Whatever it is.”

Gerard’s eyes lit up. “Do you want it to actually mean something?” he asked hopefully. Frank hadn’t been aware that Gerard was experiencing thoughts similar to his own. He smiled slightly.

“If you’d like to, then yeah,” he admitted, trying not to feel too awkward. He was always bad at expressing his feelings. “I mean, like, we haven’t even known each other that long, though.”

“That’s true,” Gerard allowed, scuffing his shoe against the ground absently. A few moments passed, the silence hanging heavy between them. Then he spoke up. “I bet Mikey’s about to be out.”

“Probably,” Frank agreed, feeling kind of awkward now that everything was out in the open. It should have been the opposite, but it wasn’t. “Maybe we should go check on him.”

Gerard agreed, and so they made their way back toward the front of the grocery store. Their hands brushed briefly, but neither said anything on the matter, simply exchanged a look that said what words could not.

***

Mikey had been coming out of the store at the moment they were going in, and with that they’d made their way back to the spaceship in no time, putting up all of Frank’s groceries before going to the control room, strapping themselves in as Gerard drove them back into space.

Gerard had actually suggested on their way up that maybe Frank would be better off on Earth, staying with a friend, in case something happened and he was left stranded in the spaceship, but Frank didn’t actually _have_ any friends to stay with, so that idea was dropped.

And the last thing he wanted to do was go back home to his mother, so staying on the spaceship was the only feasible option.

About an hour later, and they were already arriving at Black Station Zero. Frank had thought that Gerard’s spaceship was huge, but it was absolutely nothing in comparison to the space station. It was about as big as your average university back on earth, but that was where the similarities ended.

The porthole windows, bay doors, and the dark metallic exterior proved that, plus it was literally floating in space. Frank could only imagine what the inside was like.

Gerard seemed rather unimpressed, having seen it many times in his life, while Frank was pressed up against the window, eyes wide and jaw agape. It looked incredible, and he wanted nothing more than to go explore it, but Gerard’s orders had been simple: stay inside the spaceship at all costs.

“This is it,” Gerard spoke up from beside him, sounding rather sad. Mikey had already unbuckled himself and was standing by the exit door impatiently. Gerard frowned at Frank, staring at him silently for a few moments. “Be safe, Frank.”

“You’re telling _me_ to be safe?” Frank scoffed, but when he spoke again, his tone was far more gentle. “ _You_ be safe, Gerard.”

“Sorry to break up your bonding, but there’s a war Gerard and I must get to.” Mikey spoke up, looking annoyed. He’d somewhat come to terms with Gerard having a human on his spaceship, but now Frank was getting in the way of things. Gerard shot Frank an apologetic look, standing up and walking toward Mikey. His gaze didn’t leave Frank’s.

“Good-bye, Frank.” he said softly, smiling at him sadly. Frank smiled in return, raising his hand up to wave at him.

“Bye.” Frank replied, and with that the Way brothers departed the spaceship, floating over to where Black Station Zero was in the distance. 

Frank watched them from the window, even when they were only tiny specks. He could still make out which one was Gerard, somehow, and his heart ached. Sure, he hadn’t known Gerard that long, but now he may never get that chance, and the “what if” hurt immensely.

After a few minutes, Frank decided that moping around just wasn’t his thing, turning away from the window briskly. Now that Gerard was gone, he could snoop around the spaceship as much as he liked, which could prove to be rather fun.

His first stop was, of course, Gerard’s Star Wars room, because it reminded him a lot of him and also because he happened to really like the franchise. It was a lot easier to call Gerard a nerd than admit he himself was one, but no one had to know.

He glanced around at all of the movie posters, wondering how Gerard had gotten his hands on them all. His gaze then fell on all of the figurines, walking over to the bookcase that they were perched on top of.

He picked up the Chewbacca figure, giving a half-assed impression of his growl. He felt like less of an idiot when no one was around to hear it, but at the same time the thought saddened him. He placed it down quickly, glancing around the room one last time before deciding he was finished.

The bay door slid shut behind him as he left, walking down the hall and into the next room, Frank’s eyes widening at what he saw. It was a game room, filled with arcade machines, a pool table, and multiple other things. Frank didn’t understand why Gerard hadn’t shown him this room, but then again they had gotten kind of distracted.

He made his way over to the Ms. Pac-Man machine, smirking at it before he began to play. He was fucking _great_ at this game, he could beat all of Gerard’s high scores easily, and wouldn’t that just be awesome for Gerard to come home to?

He got to it, playing for probably around half an hour before actually losing completely. He typed his name in, smiling smugly to himself when he saw that he was quite a bit ahead of ‘G’. He put his name in as ‘F’, his entire name not fitting, before moving onto the next arcade machine. He had plenty of time to make more high scores.

***

The days passed by slowly. Frank had explored every room in the spaceship, finding a study, piano room, painting room, and library of sorts. He spent most of his time either in the game room or library, and when he wasn’t in either of those rooms he was simply lounging out in the living room.

He’d been eating his food sparingly, but made sure he was full at the same time. He was good at rationing, having been so poor his entire life, but at the same time he just wanted to indulge in all of the food.

He was smart, though, and knew he would die if he did that, so he limited himself accordingly. It had been probably a week before anything worth noting happened.

Frank was sitting in front of the television, eating soup and chips. He was watching some weird movie he’d found while channel surfing, and while the plot wasn’t exactly riveting, it was something. He could feel his eyelids growing heavier as time went on, though, not actually giving a single fuck about the Lisa chick not loving the Matthew dude.

That was, until a loud bang suddenly came, as if something had hit the spaceship. Frank’s eyes popped open, nearly spilling his soup all over the white carpet. He caught it just in time, setting it on the coffee table before standing up slowly, his entire body filled with apprehension.

He didn’t hear anything after that, but he still wanted to check it out. He made his way to the control room, glancing outside the window nervously: nothing.

He sighed, feeling kind of dumb for getting scared so easily; a satellite dish probably hit the ship, or some shit. He had nothing to be worried about, he was just paranoid. He turned around, with every intention to get back to his mindless TV watching, when a hand suddenly covered his mouth, another grabbing him and holding him close.

Frank’s eyes widened as he tried to process what was going on, struggling against his captor futilely. His assailant chuckled, the voice masculine.

“ _Mrrrph_!” Frank tried to speak, his voice muffled by the dude’s hand. The dude tsked softly, and a cloth was suddenly being held up to Frank’s nose forcefully. He struggled, panicking as everything around him turned blurry, and then it all went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CLIFFHANGER. :0 Who could it be?!


	4. Kidnapped

When Frank woke up, he opened his eyes to complete darkness. He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, moving his arms and legs experimentally; they weren’t tied down or anything like that, the only problem was that it was literally pitch black.

He felt a light weight on his face, like something was covering his eyes, and he realized he was an idiot. The room wasn’t dark, he was simply blindfolded. He reached up and pulled it off easily, squinting his eyes at the sudden light.

He was in a brightly-lit room, that much was obvious. He looked around, his eyes adjusting to the brightness, and realized with slight annoyance that he had been abducted yet again. He was in some form of a guest room, although it didn’t look like Gerard’s. The furniture was all black instead of white.

He sat up on the bed, his legs hanging off the edge, considering his options. On one hand, he had no idea who had kidnapped him, but on the other, why hadn’t they even tried tying him up? It seemed a very senseless thing to do, if their intentions were to keep him here.

Regardless, he began walking toward the bay door, which was black instead of gray. He got slight vertigo on the way there, having to hold his head, groaning slightly. He definitely wanted to know who had taken him, so that he could yell at whoever it was.

He probably should have been scared, but not a whole lot scared Frank anymore. He’d already been abducted once, and while Gerard was a nice enough alien, the situation was still beyond weird. And the fact that he wasn’t like, chained to the bed or anything didn’t really incite much fear in him.

The door slid open easily. He raised an eyebrow curiously, stepping through it and looking around. He widened his eyes in utter shock. He wasn’t just in a spaceship, now, this was definitely a space station. 

There was plenty of room for other people to live on this space station comfortably, though he didn’t see many of them at the moment. Maybe it was late at night, or they were all somewhere else, he had no clue.

What he did know was that he wanted to find the fucker that had taken him from Gerard’s spaceship, so he went down the hall determinedly, his anger only rising. He’d find the guy eventually, right?

He tried going through another one of the doors, testing his luck, but it wouldn’t budge. Someone was in there sleeping, most likely, and had locked their door. Whatever. Frank continued on his way, looking around. Posters decorated every other wall, giving Frank a glimpse of whatever the person that was in charge of this place was like.

He deduced that he couldn’t have been too serious, seeing as how all the bands he liked weren’t exactly super mature or anything.

He finally made it out of the first hallway, making it to a large area that wasn’t closed off. There was a large black circular rug in the middle, a chandelier hanging over it, and beyond that there were two staircases adjacent to each other.

Frank made his way over to the staircase on the left, walking up it quickly. There were large double doors on the top, most likely leading into their leader’s room. Frank glared, walking over to it, the doors sliding open right away.

He was a bit surprised, but tried to hide the look on his face immediately. The room was empty, so Frank went inside, the doors shutting behind him. He took in the room. There was a double bed in the back of the room, a checkered comforter covering it. The carpet was black, as was pretty much everything else in the room, like the side tables and dresser.

There was another door to the left of this room, probably leading into an adjoining bathroom. Frank frowned in disappointment, wondering where the hell the dude was that stayed in this room.

“Well good morning, sunshine.”

Frank nearly jumped out of his own skin, eyes widening as he turned around to face whoever had spoken. There stood a dude that was no taller than him, which really was surprising because Frank was quite short.

He had black hair, his fringe covering his hazel-brown eyes that were lined black, and a rather amused-looking expression on his face. He was also clad in all black, matching his space station rather well.

“Who the fuck _are_ you?” Frank demanded, trying to stand his ground. This dude had kidnapped him, he was more than capable of hurting Frank, but he still wasn’t going to stand there and look weak.

The guy grinned, sticking out his hand. “Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III,” he told him smoothly. He smirked, leaning in closer to Frank when he didn’t take his hand, “but you can call me whatever you like.” Frank could feel his breath on him when he spoke, giving him slight shivers. He frowned, not liking how very little distance there was between them.

“I think I’ll call you Creepy Asshole,” Frank decided, earning a laugh from Pete, but at least he moved away after that. Frank was surprised that he hadn’t pissed him off or anything, but the guy seemed like he didn’t get angry too easily. He’d found Frank in his room and hadn’t yelled at him, after all.

Pete turned around, waving his hand in the air.

“C’mon, follow me and we’ll continue talking,” Pete spoke, still sounding rather amused. Frank rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Pete was the second weirdest alien Frank had ever met, tying close for first place with Gerard.

They walked out of the room and then down the stairs, and then down the hallway once again until they reached the other side, which led to a large recreational room. There were comfy-looking chairs, large TV screens, and a table piled with food. It looked like there was a party going on, judging by all the people that were gathered.

Pete turned to make sure Frank was still following, flashing him another grin. Frank rolled his eyes.

“So you kidnapped me to bring me to your...party?” Frank asked, finding himself becoming less and less afraid. Pete’s face fell a bit at the unamused tone in Frank’s voice.

“This isn’t a party, it’s a business meeting,” he explained, voice suddenly serious. Frank raised his eyebrows at that, and Pete went on. “For the war, you know?”

“I’m well aware of the war,” Frank put in. Pete didn’t look surprised, simply grabbed Frank’s arm and led him further into the room. There were people sitting and playing video games, and others were standing around the tables, drinking or eating pizza.

Frank was not amused. “This is a fucking _business meeting_?” he questioned, unconvinced. Pete simply sighed heavily, shaking his head.

“Well, it _was_ one,” he allowed, leading Frank over to the table. He dropped the subject, grinning at Frank before grabbing him a few slices of pizza and placing them on a plate, holding it out to him. “Pizza, dude?”

Frank rolled his eyes, but accepted the plate. It was better than soup and beans, which was all he’d had left at Gerard’s. He brought the pizza to his mouth reluctantly, finding that it was actually quite delicious when he took a bite.

Pete’s eyes widened suddenly, as if he remembered something, and he turned to address his followers.

“Oh, guys, listen up!” he called out. Nearly the entire room quietened, their attention on Pete. He smiled, gesturing towards Frank. “I got Frank!”

The room erupted in cheers, all looking at Frank excitedly. Frank was so not understanding what was going on at all. He turned to look at Pete quizzically.

Pete simply smiled. “You’re our hostage, dude!” he turned back to the table after that, as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb. He glanced over at Frank. “Pepsi or Coke? Please tell me you aren’t one of those weirdos that actually _likes_ pepsi, though.”

Frank actually wasn’t a pepsi lover, shockingly enough, so he accepted a bottle of Coke from Pete. He frowned at him.

“Why am _I_ a hostage?” he wanted to know, and rightly so. Pete simply shrugged.

“Well...the leader of Black Station Zero, Patrick, and I aren’t exactly on the best of terms, which started this entire war,” he began, his expression looking troubed now. Frank still didn’t see what this had to do with him, but he listened intently anyway. “He won’t even talk to me anymore. And one of the guys in the Group found out that one of the Way brothers had decided to abduct a human,” he stopped, smiling at Frank. “That’s you! And anyway, I thought that maybe if I took you and kept you here, he’d have to come eventually.”

Frank blinked at him, slowly processing all the information. “Okay...so it’s not even an actual war, then?” he asked, feeling relieved.

Pete glared at him, his entire demeanor changing. “Of course it is, it’s a very serious matter! How dare you even suggest that, mortal.”

Frank raised an eyebrow, bringing the bottle up to his lips and taking a drink before speaking. 

“It sounds more like a stupid little fight to me,” he muttered. He really should have kept his mouth shut, but that was not how Frank rolled. Pete’s expression darkened as he walked closer to Frank, actually looking kind of intimidating.

“This is not a stupid little fight, so you’d better hold your tongue and realize who you are speaking to,” Pete hissed, jabbing a finger into Frank’s chest. Frank looked down to his chest, then back up at Pete, a little scared now. “You are the _hostage_ , and I am the _leader_ of the Decaydance Station!”

Frank nodded, holding his hand up in surrender, the one that wasn’t holding his Coke bottle. “Yes, sir.”

Pete’s entire expression changed after that, back to looking cheerful and smiley again. Frank let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.

“Great! Now that we’ve gotten that sorted out, you can party with us,” Pete chirped, clapping Frank on the back before he bounced off in the general direction of people.  
So it was a party then. Frank sighed, shaking his head slightly before he followed Pete. Why was this the life that he had been given?

***

Frank had never been a hostage before to like, compare it to this time or anything, but he was pretty sure that it was never supposed to be nearly as fun as this.

He’d already eaten a shit ton of pizza, downed a bunch of Cokes, and now he was playing video games with some guys called Joe and Brendon. They’d all decided to play Super Smash Brothers, and Frank was currently kicking both of their asses.

“Aww man, why does the hostage have to be so good?” Brendon whined, tossing his head back on the black couch. Frank merely smirked, while Joe shrugged.

“Maybe you just suck,” Joe mused, words coming out slightly slurred. Frank could smell the beer as he spoke. “At least I have a fuckin’ excuse.”

Brendon narrowed his eyes into slits. “You know what, I’m done playing this game,” he decided, getting up and tossing his controller down moodily. Frank briefly watched him as he made his way over to the drinks table, obviously looking to get sloshed.

Frank yawned, becoming aware of how tired he was. It really didn’t feel like he was in a space station, or even that he was a fucking hostage, but more like he was at a party with people he didn’t know.

Which of course meant that it was actually pretty fucking boring once he got used to it, and he found that he really missed Gerard. He wondered how he was doing, out there in this so-called war. Judging from what Pete had said, it wasn’t anything to get too worried about, so Gerard would definitely be coming back soon.

Honestly, all that really needed to happen was for that fucking Patrick guy to grow a pair and talk to Pete. They couldn’t have been fighting about anything _that_ serious, like come on, why couldn’t they just solve it like regular adults?

If Patrick was anything like Pete, though, Frank kind of understood why they’d be in a petty little argument. Pete wasn’t exactly the most mature person Frank had met, and to go with that he was borderline insane.

Frank leaned his head back into the couch, feeling pretty comfortable given the circumstances. He felt Joe get up beside him, probably to go join Brendon in his pursuit of alcoholic beverages. Frank closed his eyes, feeling himself begin to drift off, and he’d almost fallen asleep when he felt someone begin shaking him. He opened his eyes, glaring at whoever it was.

He was met with Pete’s grinning face. “No sleeping at a party, dude,” he teased, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him up. Frank didn’t want to get up, though, so he slunk onto the carpet. “Aw come on, don’t be like that, dude! You can sleep later.”

“Nah,” Frank replied, studying at the carpet. It was actually very nice carpet, no crumbs were in it or anything of the sort, and it was soft. Frank could totally sleep here.

“ _Hostaaage_ , come on,” Pete whined, pulling on his arm harder, and okay, that fucking hurt. Frank forced himself to get up, groaning in protest. Why did everyone keep calling him hostage? He had a fucking name.

“My name is Frank,” Frank snapped, looking up at Pete. “Stop calling me hostage, it’s weird.”

Pete held his hands up toward Frank. “Whoa, chill dude,” he frowned. “I’ll call you Frank, no problem.”

“Thank you,” Frank told him ever-so sincerely, still staying resolutely on the couch. “What am I even supposed to _do_? Brendon and Joe abandoned me and I don’t actually know anyone here.”

“Well, you know me!” Pete pointed out. Frank stared at him, and he hesitated. “Okay, well you kind of know me, anyway.”

“Do you know how the Way brothers are doing?” Frank asked suddenly, finding his thoughts drifting to Gerard. He wanted to be hanging out with him instead of this Pete guy. “They left like, a week ago.”

Pete pursed his lips thoughtfully. “I do not,” he announced, bringing his finger up to his chin. “But, I can definitely find out.”

He walked off towards a really tall dude, who had floppy black hair and nice blue eyes. He glanced at Pete when he began talking to him, and while Frank couldn’t make out the conversation, he assumed he was asking this guy to go see what the Way brothers were up to.

The guy walked off after that, in the direction of the exit, and Pete made his way back to Frank, grinning.

“We’ll know soon enough!” he informed Frank gleefully, throwing his hands up in the air and clasping them together, sitting beside Frank. “Until then, what do you say we play some Call of Duty?”

Frank kind of hated Call of Duty, but he found himself agreeing anyway, because Pete was going to insist they did until he gave in.

***

Three hours and an innumerable amount of Call of Duty matches later, all of which Pete had kicked Frank’s ass at, and the dude with floppy hair had returned, making his presence known.

“The Way brothers are doing fine,” he called out, catching Frank’s attention. Pete used the distraction as a way to kill Frank’s character yet again, but it wasn’t like Frank really gave a shit anyway. The dude got closer, continuing. “They have successfully rayed four of our Group to Earth!”

Frank’s eyes widened at that. “Wait, _rayed_?” he questioned. Pete nodded from beside him, still playing the dumb game.

“We do not actually condone murder,” Pete shrugged, as if it were common knowledge. “We find it is a far worse punishment to simply transport our enemies to Earth, without a spaceship, so that they are completely and utterly, well, _fucked_.”

Frank cringed at that. He knew how hard it was to survive on Earth if you were a human, even, trying to find a job and a home and all that sort of stuff. He didn’t like the sound of Gerard possibly getting trapped there with no way back.

“That’s pretty cruel,” Frank agreed, glancing back at the TV screen. Pete had reached 100 kills, and he turned the game off after that. Frank looked at him. “Are we done?”

“We are,” Pete stated simply, and it was then that Frank noticed that most of the party had cleared out. Pete, floppy-haired guy and Frank himself were the only people left.

“You can go to sleep if you want,” Pete told Frank, shooting him a friendly smile. “Now that I’ve kicked your ass.”

Frank rolled his eyes. Pete was pretty damn annoying, but at least he wasn’t going to kill Frank. He had nothing to be afraid of.

“How thoughtful of you,” Frank murmured, but instead of getting angry Pete simply chuckled, getting up from the couch and making his way out of the room. Frank got up, too, stretching a bit before he followed Pete, passing floppy-haired guy.

He somehow remembered which room was his, and he went inside, walking over to his bed and flopping down on it tiredly. He’d been through a lot in these past couple of weeks, and he could only wonder what would happen as time went on.

He couldn’t wait to see Gerard again, because they’d both pretty much admitted that they liked each other, even a little bit. Frank wanted to kiss Gerard again, but mostly he just wanted to hang out with him and be in his presence.

He got underneath the covers, rolling onto his side and closing his eyes. He was too tired to think about anything right now.

***

“Time to wake up!”

Pete’s booming, overly-cheerful voice came in a sing-song voice, effectively waking Frank up. He still didn’t open his eyes, though, until he felt a large weight jump onto his bed. His eyes popped open to see that Pete was sitting, criss-cross, on the foot of his bed.

He grinned. “That finally get you up?”

Frank nodded quickly, sitting up and holding the comforter as far up his naked chest as he could manage. “Uh, yeah,” he replied, trying to keep his gaze on anything but Pete. The other man wasn’t wearing a shirt.

Pete inched closer to Frank, grabbing his chin and smiling coyly. “You’re cute when you’re scared, y’know.”

Frank blanched, frozen to the spot. Pete began laughing, a noisy, boisterous kind, and Frank really wanted to punch him in the nose.

“Don’t worry, I don’t like you like that,” Pete affirmed him, scrambling off of Frank’s bed and standing beside it, giving him a smile. “I mean, you’re hot, but I already have my eye on someone.”

Frank was relieved that he wasn’t the object of Pete’s affections, because that would only make the whole experience that much weirder for him. He already had a crush on Gerard, and Pete wasn’t exactly his type.

“Thanks,” Frank murmured, not looking at Pete. His type or not, he still wasn’t wearing a shirt, and Frank kind of had a problem in his pants right now. Pete had awoken him from a very vivid dream that may or may not have involved Gerard.

Sensing his discomfort, Pete shook his head in defeat, holding his hands up. “Alright, I can take a hint. Get dressed and meet me out in the living quarters in five minutes, though, okay?”

Before Frank could even reply, Pete was out of his room, leaving him to his own thoughts. Frank blushed as he remembered the details of his dream, wishing that the problem in his jeans would go away on its own.

It wasn’t going to do that, though, so he was going to have to find the bathroom and disobey Pete. He scrambled out of the bed, placing his hands over his pants as he walked out of his room, locating a bathroom.

He went inside quickly, locking the door behind him and taking his clothes off. He then walked towards the shower, turning it on to a reasonable temperature. He needed a shower anyway, and now he could resolve his issue.

 

Fifteen minutes later, a clean and non-sexually frustrated Frank found himself walking down the hallway to the living quarters. Pete hopefully wouldn’t get angry with him for taking too long, he’d only been taking a shower (and other things, but Pete didn’t need to know that).

He made it to the spacious room, looking around absently. There were quite a bit of people gathered, and Frank noticed Joe and Brendon conversating in the corner. He briefly wondered why they hadn’t been sent off to the war, then remembered that they didn’t exactly seem like the type.

He couldn’t find Pete, so he could only assume that he’d left as soon as Frank hadn’t shown up. That was okay with Frank, he didn’t exactly want to be around Pete for any longer than he had to.

He felt a tapping on his shoulder and spun around wildly, looking at whoever it was with an undoubtedly shocked expression.

“Did you want an update on the Way brothers?” the floppy-haired dude from yesterday asked cheerfully, as Frank attempted to slow down his breathing and get his heart to stop pounding wildly in his chest. He held a hand to his chest, nodding a bit.

“That would be great, uh--”

“Dallon,” Dallon finished for him, smiling in a friendly way. “And you’re Frank, right?”

“Yep, that’s me,” Frank confirmed, tilting his head slightly. “So what’s up with the Way brothers?”

Dallon grinned. “Rumor has it is that they’re with Patrick, right now!” he relayed happily. Frank wondered what the fuck kind of happy pills this dude was on. “They’re going to be here anytime now. Patrick is pissed that Pete kidnapped you.”

Frank was sure he was. “Well, I can’t wait to leave,” Frank said truthfully, shrugging a bit. “It feels weird to be here. It was already weird enough that I was abducted in the first place.”

He wasn’t sure why he was telling the Dallon guy all of this, but he figured that it was because out of everyone he’d met on this station so far, he seemed to be the most normal. Dallon nodded in understanding.

“I’m sure it must be weird for a human like yourself to be in space,” he mused, looking Frank up and down. Frank kind of felt like he was being checked out, or something, but he was sure that wasn’t the case. “You’re actually the first human I’ve properly spoken to.”

“Really?” Frank asked, raising his eyebrows. “You’ve been to Earth though, right?”

“Yes, but we aren’t supposed to actually conversate with the humans,” Dallon explained. Oh, right, Gerard had gotten arrested for just that. It didn’t make any sense, but whatever. Dallon dithered a bit, looking around awkwardly. 

“Where’s Pete, anyway?” Frank found himself asking, looking in the direction that Dallon was. He seemed to be looking at Brendon and Joe conversating.

“Hmm?” Dallon asked absently, his eyes still trained on Brendon. Frank coughed slightly, gaining his attention, Dallon’s eyes going wide. “Oh! Pete went to contact Patrick, he should be back shortly.”

“Great,” Frank muttered. He couldn’t fucking wait to be back with Gerard. Even though he was weird, it was actually pretty endearing when you got used to it. Pete was just...creepy. He was one of those guys that hit on you in bars no matter how many times you told him to stop.

He’d said he had his eye on someone, though, and Frank couldn’t help but to wonder who exactly that was. Maybe that Patrick guy, or someone else? How many aliens were even gay? Gerard was, and if Dallon was actually staring at Brendon then he probably was.

Maybe being in space wouldn’t be that bad, if everyone turned out to be gay. He wouldn’t be in the minority anymore, in fact he’d fit right in. He looked around, taking everyone in. There weren’t very many girls. He spotted a girl with shoulder-length red-orange hair talking to some girl with long black hair, one side shaved, but other than that, it seemed to be mostly dudes. There were probably some more girls elsewhere, though, and there had to be some back on Gerard’s home station.

Frank found himself wondering how they reproduced. Maybe it worked the same way it did for humans? Was it still the girls that got pregnant? Oh god, he really fucking hoped that Gerard couldn’t get pregnant. That would be weird as fuck.

“You look like you have something on your mind,” Dallon pointed out, sounding teasing, but not in the same way Pete did. Frank smiled slightly at him, feeling awkward. “If you have any questions, just ask.”

“How does reproduction work with aliens?” Frank blurted out. He’d never been one to consider his words before he spoke. He’d been born without a brain-to-mouth filter.

Dallon’s cheeks tinged a bit pink at that, but he answered anyway. “Uh, I’m sure you know how sex works,” he said first, Frank simply nodding before he continued. “Anyway, it’s just that. It’s the same as humans, I think.”

“Yeah, but dudes don’t have the babies, do they?” Frank needed to know, for science. Dallon shrugged, leaving Frank to feel nervous.

“I'm actually not sure,” he admitted. Frank kind of wanted to throw up, but he allowed Dallon to keep talking. “I can’t, I know that much, but...aliens aren’t exactly the same as humans, of course.” 

“Thanks,” Frank told Dallon awkwardly, bringing a hand up to scratch his head. Okay, so if he hypothetically ever wanted have sex with an alien, he’d better use fucking protection just in case. “That’s all I wanted to like, know.”

Dallon nodded, watching as Brendon began to walk away. He glanced over at Frank, pointing towards him.

“I’m gonna go now,” he told Frank hurriedly, to which Frank simply waved him off.

“Go for it, man. I’ll just wait for Pete.”

Dallon smiled at Frank, waving at him before bounding off towards Brendon. Frank rolled his eyes, walking over to the nearest empty couch and sitting in it.

He’d been relaxing for a good three minutes before suddenly, all the chatter around him quieted down.

“Attention, everyone! We must prepare for an infiltration!” Pete shouted from the front of the room, now dressed in a black and gray hoodie. His expression was serious, his eyebrows tightly knit. “Patrick doesn’t just want to talk, he’s gonna try and fight us!”

Frank frowned, standing up from the couch and turning to face him. “Wait, what?” he yelled at Pete, capturing his attention. “Why can’t you guys just talk?”

Pete gave him a scolding look, like it wasn’t his place to talk, but replied anyway.

“Let’s just say Patrick isn’t as fun-loving as I am,” he spoke lower, but still loud enough to be heard. Well, that blew Frank’s theory out of the water.  
Pete scowled, kicking at the floor as he let a string of curses loose from his mouth. Then he turned and walked away briskly, back to wherever the control room was, no doubt.

Frank felt nervousness pooling in his stomach all over again, like he’d felt when he thought Gerard was going to get hurt the first time. Gerard could get rayed, to Earth, and then he’d be stuck there forever. Which probably wouldn’t have been horrible, if Frank could be with him, because then he could help him out, but how would Frank even get there?

He sat on the couch, sighing to himself and rubbing his eyes tiredly. He hadn’t gotten a whole lot of sleep, because apparently Pete had no concept of time - it was like six in the morning - but he couldn’t imagine that he’d be able to go back to sleep now.

He looked up as Joe passed by him, sitting next to him on the couch, stretching out as much as he could. He let out a large yawn, looking at Frank boredly.

“You tired too, man?” he asked, not intensely interested, but Frank recalled that Brendon had abandoned him. Frank just shrugged, not replying. He didn’t know this Joe dude, so he wasn’t going to talk to him.

“Pete’s got some coffee in the kitchen,” Joe offered helpfully, smiling when Frank looked up. “You wanna come with and get some?”

“Hell yeah,” Frank replied excitedly, jumping off from the couch. Joe got off much slower, but soon enough they were walking down the hallway and to the kitchen. Frank was still tired, but the prospect of coffee itself somehow woke up him up a little.

They walked inside the kitchen, Joe walking over to the coffee maker instantly. Frank waited in front of the door, watching as the fluffy-haired man prepared their drinks. Five minutes and a bit of chitchat later, and they were drinking their wonderful coffee.

Frank nearly spilled it all over himself when Dallon burst into the kitchen, looking panicked, his arms flailing wildly.

“Frank! It’s Gerard,” he puffed, trying to catch his breath. Frank’s jaw dropped, feeling his heart sink into his stomach along with his coffee. Dallon was going to tell him that Gerard had died, wasn’t he? Even though it wasn’t technically a possibility.

“What about Gerard?” Frank demanded to know, clenching his teeth so that he wouldn’t break his coffee mug. 

Dallon looked at him morosely.

“I’m sorry, Frank, this is terrible,” he sighed, shaking his head a bit. Frank gave him an intense stare, urging him to go on.

“He got rayed, Frank.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what even is this chapter haha i hope you liked it anyway!! <3


	5. Rayed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too sure how to feel about this chapter, I hope you like it anyway though!

Frank felt his heart drop into the pits of his stomach at the news Dallon told him. He was sure his face was in some form of shock, but when he came to his senses, needless to say, he panicked.

“Can’t you take me back to Earth with him?!” Frank begged, setting his mug down carelessly, a few splashes of coffee hitting the counter as he turned to face Dallon. “He can’t just be there all alone!”

Dallon frowned, eyes troubled. “I don’t know how to fly a ship, Frank,” he spoke softly. “I’m sorry...”

“Whatever, I’ll ask Pete,” Frank puffed out, aware that he was acting recklessly, but he wanted to make sure that Gerard was okay. Gerard had done that much for him, and the least he could do was repay it.

He pushed his way past Dallon, ignoring his yells of protest. He was going to find Pete, and he was going to take him to Earth, no questions asked. He could even dump him off there, too, Frank really didn’t care.

He ran into the tattooed alien-man as he was coming out of his room, hand in his hair, looking like he’d been to Hell and back. This whole argument with Patrick was evidently really getting to him, but it probably could’ve been avoided _somehow_ , Frank was certain of it. They had blown this way out of proportion.

He waited at the bottom of the stairs, looking up towards where Pete was making his way down them.

“Gerard...was rayed,” he spoke, trying to catch his breath from running so fast, hands on his knees. Pete’s eyes widened, but he said nothing on the matter as he continued on his way, passing by Frank completely.

Frank gaped at him, reaching out and grabbing his arm in protest, stopping him. Pete whipped his head back to look at him, his eyes in narrow slits. Frank wasn’t an idiot, he had no idea what this dude could do to him, but he was fucking desperate.

“Can you...take me to Earth?” Frank begged, putting on his most helpless expression. “Please?” Frank didn’t want to be stuck on Pete’s ship forever, anyway, and the only reason why he cared to stay in space was Gerard. If he was on Earth, then that was where Frank wanted to go, too. 

Pete frowned at Frank, expression pensive. He didn’t speak for a long time, and Frank was almost sure that he was going to blow him off.

“I _could_ ,” Pete admitted finally. Frank let go of his arm before he went on. “But...there’s no way of knowing _where_ Gerard is. It could take months just to find him, Frank, and--”

“So? Let’s do it!” Frank pleaded, making his eyes as wide as they could go. “Pete, he can’t just die there, or become a hobo! He’s a good person, alien, whatever!”

Pete sighed, bringing his hand up to his face. “Someone else could take you there, most likely, but it can’t be me. I have things to do--”

“So get me the other person,” Frank scoffed. Pete was only prolonging everything. 

“If you want me to help you, stop talking to me like you’re above me,” Pete snapped, glaring at Frank. “But anyway, I can’t do that, not now. Not until the war is over. Other people could get rayed too, you know. It’s in everyone’s best interest right now that we remain on the space station.”

Frank sighed, taking a step back from Pete and trying to regulate his breathing. Pete was right; he couldn’t just spend time worrying about one person, one that wasn’t even in his station at that. He was being generous enough by offering Frank anything at all. He totally didn’t have to do that, even if he was the one that started this whole thing, as Frank was nothing to him.

“After the war is over...could you please take me?” Frank’s tone of voice was no better than a small child’s, the begging evident in his voice, the desperation on his face. “He’ll probably be okay for a little while, but...I don’t know. He’ll get all lonely and shit.”

Pete frowned at Frank, staring at him a bit longer than Frank would have liked, but he wasn’t going to say anything. Finally, Pete walked a bit closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I could totally ray you,” he told Frank, who felt his heart nearly leap out of his chest at the prospect. He didn’t exactly know what being rayed felt like, but if it could teleport him back to Earth, he was down. Pete must have noticed the eagerness in his expression, sighing as he took his hand off of Frank’s shoulder.

“Being rayed _hurts_ , Frank. And I can’t guarantee that you’ll be transported to Gerard’s exact location. With a spaceship, we could scope out the entire land, try and spot him. But with a raygun...there’s really no way of knowing.”

“I know my way around Earth,” Frank persisted, even if it was technically a lie. He knew his way around _Jersey_ , but not necessarily, say, Antarctica. And if he ended up there, he would end up getting frozen to death.

“It’s dangerous, Frank,” Pete replied, though it sounded like he was relenting, if even only a little. Frank had high hopes. “But if you wanna try it _that_ badly...”

“I’ll do anything,” Frank told him, hoping the truthfulness was clear in his expression. “If anything happens, it’s my fault, not yours.”

Pete mulled it over in his head, staying silent for a long time. Long enough for Frank to get uncomfortable with staring at Pete and looking down at the floor instead, and long enough for Frank to feel disheartened. Pete wasn’t going to do it.

Pete sighed heavily, crossing his arms. “Okay, Frank,” his voice broke into the silence, Frank’s eyes looking up to meet his. “Follow me to the control room.”

Frank smiled at him, feeling nervousness and excitement flood him all at once.  
  
***

Roughly fifteen minutes later, and Frank and Pete were in the control room. It would have been closer to five, probably, had Pete not got sidetracked by another call with Patrick. Apparently, Patrick was also upset that Gerard had been rayed, and admitted that maybe a war wasn’t actually the best idea.  
But he was still mad at Pete, and so Pete was still as moody as ever, quite possibly even grouchier than he’d been before. He wasn’t being quite so snappy with Frank as he would’ve been to, say, Dallon, but that was only because Frank’s life could very well be on the line. 

Pete turned around from where he’d been searching through some tools -- Frank could’ve sworn he saw a battle axe of some sort in there, but he wasn’t going to ask any questions -- and held a ray gun in his hand.

He frowned at Frank, the eye that wasn’t covered by his fringe looking apprehensive. Frank briefly wondered why Pete had that haircut, like c’mon, aliens weren’t actually ever _emo_ , but that was kind of the least of his worries.

“I still don’t really want to do this,” Pete spoke, sounding abnormally serious. Frank hadn’t known the guy for very long or anything, but he had usually been more neurotic before this point, other than the times he’d intimidated the shit out of Frank, anyway. “But I don’t have any control over you, and you’ll probably end up doing something dumb anyway.”

“I resent that,” Frank told him, though there wasn’t any bitterness in it. He stood where Pete had told him to a few minutes earlier, his back nearly touching the wall. “Anyway, can you just do it already? I hate waiting, it makes everything worse.”

Pete shook his head slightly at Frank, as if he couldn’t believe that Frank was actually idiotic enough to _want_ to be rayed. But that sure as hell didn’t stop him, because he was standing in front of Frank seconds later.

Frank was actually pretty fucking scared at this point. Like, the fear was on par with seeing a fucking tarantula or something, but he also felt this weird sort of calmness. It was like because he knew he had to do this, it wasn’t as bad somehow. If he had to hold a tarantula to go help Gerard, he probably would.

“I hope to see you again, Frank,” Pete spoke quietly, like he hardly believed that he ever would. Frank had considered that, but he didn’t really want to dwell on it too much. Anything can be horrible if you think about it for too long. He smiled slightly at Frank, holding the ray gun up and pointing directly at Frank’s middle. “Time to go back to earth.”  
Frank braced himself, his eyes squinting up on their own volition, clenching his teeth. This was really happening. 

Pete fired the ray gun, doing a weird kind of salute to Frank, and that was the last thing Frank saw before he was screaming in agony, his insides feeling as if they were being torn apart. He was literally being _zapped to Earth._

It felt like what he’d always imagined being struck by lightning felt like, or being struck by lightning and then thrown inside a blender, his insides getting whirled around and chopped up into tiny pieces. Yeah, that pretty much summed it up. 

He blacked out after that, or maybe it was just that he was seeing the void or some shit, regardless he shut his eyes. Gerard had gone through this same exact thing, and Frank was doing it for him.

Except he wasn’t really thinking about that when he was being physically torn apart. Pete hadn’t been fucking kidding when he’d said it would hurt, in fact he had not informed Frank _enough_. He probably hadn’t actually been rayed before, otherwise he most definitely would not have let this happen to Frank.  
He really did black out at some point, though, from the pain, the last image in his brain one of Gerard.

*** 

Frank awoke in Hell, or at least that’s what he assumed. It was fucking hot, and his body registered that before his brain actually did, which is what woke him in the first place. He forced himself to open his eyes, slightly disappointed when he didn’t see walls of fire and a tiny red man with horns dancing around.

He was in a fucking desert. Like, if he had to guess he would say that he was in the Sahara desert, or some shit. He really fucking hoped that wasn’t the case, otherwise he was going to die. Sure, maybe in Antarctica he would’ve gotten frozen, but he would’ve turned into an ice cube or some shit, and someone could unfreeze him later. Or maybe he’d just seen that in a cartoon before, but whatever.

What mattered right now was that Frank was not actually in Antarctica, he was in some desert, and his body felt like he’d been put through a meat grinder. He groaned, sitting up and taking in his surroundings, squinting because the sun was brutal wherever he was.

He vaguely recognized it as possibly being an actual state, and not the wilderness. He’d been to California before, on vacation - before his father had died - and he remembered that they’d gone through Nevada on the way there.

Which had kind of looked exactly like this.

Nevada. He was in fucking Nevada. Even if he wasn’t in the Sahara Desert, he still had no fucking clue how he was going to get out of here. He sighed, standing up and nearly falling right back down. His legs felt like jelly, and his head felt like it was about to implode in on itself.

But his survival instinct was kicking in, which forced him to try his best to remain on his feet. He looked around, seeing the hills surrounding him, the sand underneath his feet. He’d never actually been in a desert before, unsurprisingly.

He immediately freaked out, because he didn’t have any water, and water was a crucial thing to have in a heated environment. He really should have packed or something, in the event that he ended up in a fucking desert, or the arctic, but he hadn’t.

So instead of standing around like an idiot, he decided which way would be the best to go. Now, if he chose wrong he’d probably be utterly fucked, and if he chose the other there was a great chance that he’d eventually find a town. 

He tried to think of what desert he could possibly be in, the only conclusion he came to was the Mojave Desert. If that was the case, then he was south of Las Vegas, and if he could get there somehow then he’d be okay, maybe. But how was he supposed to know which way _was_ north?

He didn’t put too much thought into it -- it was getting hotter by the second, seriously -- and began walking.

It was pretty damn uneventful for about half an hour. Mostly all that happened was that Frank felt like death, his mouth more parched than he could ever recall it being before, and his legs really hurt. The only time he’d even hurt half this bad was when his Mom had beaten him nearly to death once, but even that wasn’t comparable.

He kept on, however, seeing no other alternative. He didn’t really want to die in a desert, nor did he want to die at all, so that was why he kept going, even as his legs screamed in protest.

When he saw the first sign of civilization, he nearly started crying, but he was far too dehydrated to do anything like that. There was a small little gas station coming into view just beyond him, and he somehow felt himself speeding up, though he was sure he didn’t have much life left in him.

He was near a fucking _town_. Sure, it looked shitty as hell, but it was something! He wasn’t going to be stuck in this god-forsaken _desert_! He grinned, all of his teeth showing, allowing himself to laugh a bit hysterically. If he was going insane, he had the right.

He kept on running, because that was all his brain knew how to do anymore, and as soon as he reached the gas station, pushing the door open and going inside, he collapsed right onto the floor, panting wildly.

The lady at the counter’s eyes widened considerably, taking in Frank’s bedraggled appearance. He could imagine what he must look like, he’d just been on a journey through the desert, but he really didn’t give a fuck.

“Water...” he gasped out, catching the lady’s eyes and pleading with her. He couldn’t make his legs move, he could only hold his hand out desperately. If the roles were reversed and he was the person working here, he’d probably be horrified. It kind of seemed like the start of a horror film or something, in all honesty.  
But the woman nodded anyway, rushing over to where the waters were kept and grabbing one of the largest bottles she could find, making her way to Frank, crouching so that she was level with him and holding it out to him.

Frank tried to sit up the best he could, reaching out and grabbing the bottled water. He opened it easily, throwing the cap across the room as he pressed the bottle to his lips, gulping the precious liquid down.

The woman stared at him the whole time, looking absolutely mortified. Frank didn’t blame her, but he was a little too busy hydrating himself to care about her feelings. He finished the bottle off quicker than he’d ever drank anything in his life, gasping as he threw the bottle down, wiping his mouth as he panted, trying to catch his breath.  
Silence spread over the two people in the store, probably the only people in the entire vicinity. The lady finally broke it, though.

“Are...you okay?” she wanted to know, even if it was obvious that Frank was not okay. She frowned, sitting on the dirty store floor. Frank finally looked at her, like really looked at her, and realized that she probably wasn’t much older than him actually. She was kind of pretty, even if Frank wasn’t into girls, with her shoulder-length black hair and hazel eyes.  
“No,” Frank managed to get out, leaning back and laying flat on his back, arms spread out on the floor as he regained his ability to breathe normally. He stared up at the ceiling, trying to focus on making his breaths even.

When he finally felt like he wasn’t going to die, he sat up, seeing that the girl still hadn’t moved from where she was sat in front of Frank. She was still frowning at him, expression thoughtful. 

“You aren’t from around here,” the girl stated, and Frank didn’t try arguing with her. “You’re from...”

“Wanna take a guess?” Frank suggested, sure his accent was probably coming through the more he spoke. The girl’s eyes lit up, her lips twitching into a knowing smile.  
“Jersey,” she nodded, sounding proud of herself for knowing that. She then resumed frowning at Frank. “So Jersey boy, what the fuck are you doing in southern Nevada?”

Frank half wanted to tell her the truth, just because he knew she wouldn’t believe him and the situation would turn humorous, but he decided to lie instead, so that the girl wouldn’t think he was too crazy.

“Road trip. My car broke down and, well, I had to walk all the way here,” Frank shrugged, not meeting the girl’s eyes. He hoped she’d just take that as a sign of Frank’s displeasure, and not that he was actually lying. 

Her eyes were wide, though, sympathetic. “That really bites, man,” she told him softly, making eye contact with him. “Is there anyway I can help? How far out is your car?”  
“The fuckin’ desert,” Frank mumbled, knowing full and well he didn’t actually have a car, but it wasn’t like it would be retrievable anyway. Frank had walked for at least forty-five minutes before making it here. “I don’t know where exactly I was, though.”

The girl’s eyes lit up. “Oh, the Mojave?” she asked, and Frank nodded. “I know exactly where that is! But if you don’t mind me asking, why were you driving through it? There’s so many alternative routes.”

“I wanted to do some sightseeing,” Frank said, trying to sound convincing. The girl seemed to buy it easily enough, so he went on, changing the subject. “You wouldn’t happen to know where I could possibly stay overnight?”

“You’re in luck,” the girl smiled, getting up off of the floor and standing. “We’re actually on the outskirts of Primm, there’s plenty of hotels here.”

Frank didn’t feel any better after hearing that, because there was a rather large problem with staying somewhere overnight that required payment; he didn’t actually have any money.

“Well, that’s great and all, but I don’t think they’ll let me stay,” Frank muttered, seeing a look of doubt flicker across the girl’s face.

“Why not?” she wanted to know, her voice soft yet filled with confusion.

“I, uh...don’t have any money,” Frank said quietly, breaking eye contact with the girl and staying where he was on the floor. “I’m not actually on a roadtrip.”

It was quiet for a few minutes, enough for Frank to feel awkward.

“I’m really sorry if I’m intruding or anything,” the girl began hesitantly. “But, uh...did your parents kick you out, or something?”

That was a reasonable conclusion for the girl to come to, Frank thought, but it couldn’t have been further from the truth. He’d been abducted by an alien, kidnapped by another, and then fucking shocked back to Earth. Not exactly kicked out by his parents, but he would just have to bullshit his way through this one.

“You’re fine,” he assured the girl, smiling at her weakly, trying his best to come across as honest. “But uh, yeah...my parents kicked me out last night.”

“I’m so sorry,” the girl frowned. Frank finally stood up, wiping his jeans off. They were really fucking sandy. He looked at the girl again, her eyes widening. “Oh man, I just realized I never even gave you my name. It’s Jamia.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Jamia. I’m Frank,” Frank smiled, holding his hand out to the girl. She took his hand, shaking it slightly before letting their hands fall.  
Jamia smiled back at Frank, her face falling as she began to think something over. Her lips twisted a bit in thought.

“You could stay at my place for a bit,” she finally said, saying exactly what Frank had hoped to hear but still wasn’t expecting. “I live right around here, in my own apartment. It’s not exactly roomy enough to house more than one person for long, but I think it would be okay, temporarily.”

“You trust me enough?” Frank couldn’t help but ask, giving Jamia a look of disbelief. “I wouldn’t trust a dirty guy who came in my store out of nowhere, but that’s just me.”

Jamia smirked at him. “I’m not defenseless, you know,” she informed him. “I grew up in Jersey, too. I’ve had my share of encounters, and I can tell you’re not a threat.”

Frank frowned a little. He could totally be intimidating, if he really wanted to be. Jamia didn’t know him like that.

“Well, that’d be great if I could stay with you for a while. I really appreciate it,” Frank said instead of voicing his opinions on just how much of a threat he could be.  
Jamia smiled, walking over to the counter. “Let me just get my things and we’ll go,” she told him smoothly, grabbing her keys and phone and whatever else she needed. Frank tilted his head slightly.

“You can just leave whenever you want?” he questioned. Jamia gave him a look.

“Does it look like anyone’s gonna show up?” she scoffed, and she definitely had a point there. “Besides, my shift’s over in like, an hour.”  
Frank nodded, not really sure what to say. Conversations had never been his strong point, and he was still tired as all fuck from his adventure today. He turned and began to walk outside of the store, Jamia following close by.

She locked the store door, then walked towards a black Toyota Corolla. Frank followed her, flinching every time he took a step from the never-ending pain in his legs, and miraculously found himself inside her car a few moments later.

Jamia started the car up, then immediately reached over and grabbed a cord connected to the aux, pushing it inside a small hole in her phone and looking down at it, scrolling through a bunch of songs.

Frank leaned over slightly to try and check out what kind of music this chick listened to, completely caught off guard when the music began playing in the car and it was totally _his_ type of music. Like, Jamia was actually playing the fucking Misfits.

She glanced over at him, noticing the expression on his face and grinning.

“We’ll get along just fine.”

***

They had been driving for maybe five minutes, give or take. Frank was sitting somewhat awkwardly in the passenger’s seat beside Jamia. He didn’t actually know much about her other than the fact that she liked the Misfits, and that was cool and all, but she was still very much a stranger.

He wasn’t quite sure why he was considering these things when he’d barely batted an eye at Gerard abducting him, but whatever. Humans were pretty unpredictable, too, they’d done some crazy shit.

The atmosphere felt slightly awkward, Frank not actually too sure what to say. The Misfits were still playing, which was great, but Jamia was just staring out at the open road, paying Frank no mind. Frank wasn’t exactly the most chatty person ever, but he’d just went from being around people that never shut up to someone that barely made a sound.  
He’d been trying to come up with some small talk, anything that could possibly make it less awkward between them.

But when he turned to look out the window, taking in the surroundings flying by him, he saw something. His heart nearly leapt out of his chest, his eyes widening as much as possible. 

It was _him_.

“Stop the car!” he shouted, effectively scaring the shit out of Jamia. She stomped on the breaks, veering off to the side, the tires squealing in protest. The car came to a stop, pushing them towards the windshield and throwing them back. Once they’d collected themselves, Jamia looked at Frank like he was positively insane, her eyebrows raised as high as they could go, her eyes huge.

“What the fuck, dude?” she demanded to know. Frank wasn’t listening, though. He had bigger things to worry about.

He opened the car door quickly, stepping out of it, ignoring Jamia’s calls for him. He turned to look towards where he saw _him_ , feeling his heart thudding hard in his chest. He couldn’t believe how great his luck was.

Gerard was standing on the same road as him, looking perplexed with everything around him. He frowned, his gaze flickering around the slightly populated town. Frank was frozen to the spot, wanting nothing more than to run with him but finding himself stuck.

But then there was a car speeding down the road, the same road that Gerard was standing right in the middle of, and he didn’t seem like he was going to move soon.  
Frank jumped into action.

“Gerard, fucking move!” he screamed, charging towards the alien-man. Gerard briefly looked back to see who had called out to him, likely only catching a glimpse as Frank pushed him out of harm's way. He landed on top of him, the air being knocked out of the pair as the car sped past them, narrowly missing them. Frank could smell the gas that flew out of the car’s pipe, hear it letting out a long honk.

But he couldn’t believe what had just happened, couldn’t process it.

His heart still beating erratically in his chest, Frank allowed himself to look up at Gerard’s face. He looked absolutely mortified, his eyes wide and his breathing heavy, his arms splayed out beside him.

But he seemed to realize who was on top of him, for his entire face lit up, his expression molding into one of shock and excitement, his eyes gleaming and his mouth parting in shock.

“Are you okay?” Frank asked lowly, in no hurry whatsoever to get off of Gerard. Gerard simply looked at him, his mouth changing from an ‘o’ shape to a slowly forming grin.

“Frank,” he said happily, drawing out the name, bringing his hand up to touch Frank’s face, like he was checking that Frank was actually there. “You just saved my life.”

Frank smiled back at Gerard, enjoying the feeling of Gerard’s hand on his face. He was with Gerard again. He was alive and well. Hell, Frank had fucking saved him.

“I guess we’re even now, huh?” Frank chuckled, barely thinking about the words before he said them. They registered in Gerard’s head clearly, though, and he grinned, a giant one that took up his entire face.

They stayed like that for a few moments, just staring at each other, Gerard’s hand rubbing Frank’s face gently, Frank laying comfortably on top of Gerard who seemed to have no complaints about their particular arrangement.

“Frank?” Gerard spoke up, though he already had Frank’s undivided attention. Frank simply tilted his head to the side, eyes flicking down towards Gerard’s lips.

“Yeah?” Frank asked lowly. If they were just a _little_ closer...

“Well, it's just...actually, fuck it.” Gerard seemed to reconsider what he was going to say, instead grabbing the back of Frank’s head and pulling his face closer to his own, pressing their lips together hastily.

Though it was initially messy, it turned into a passionate kiss. Frank cupped Gerard’s face, steadying himself on top of his body. He allowed Gerard’s tongue inside of his mouth, content with giving him control for the most part. He could hardly believe any of this was even happening. Maybe he was dreaming.

He pushed his own tongue against Gerard’s, feeling his entire body grow warm as they lay there, making out like it was the most important thing in the universe. 

“Well, I hate to break up your little movie moment, but are you still coming to my house or not?”

Jamia’s voice broke into their kissing, unfortunately enough. Frank forced himself to stop kissing Gerard, panting for a moment and staring into Gerard’s eyes intently. The look seemed to say what he could not, and he got up off of the other man, standing up. He lowered his hand for Gerard to take, which he did, with a smile.

He then turned to look at Jamia, his hand still in Gerard’s.

“I’m sorry, we just...haven’t seen each other in a while,” Frank shouted back at Jamia, who was standing by her car, arms crossed. Frank hadn’t meant to give her any trouble, but he wasn’t exactly a rational thinker, especially when it came to Gerard.

Jamia rolled her eyes, but there was a slight smile on her lips. “Come on. He can come too.”

Frank’s eyes widened as he began to walk towards the Corolla, Gerard beside him. “Are you sure? I’m already enough of a nuisance.”

Jamia waved him off. “Hey, you said it’s only temporary anyway, right? I can’t just leave you guys out on the road.”

Frank smiled, feeling warm. Sometimes he genuinely forgot that there were good people in the world, then he met people like Jamia and suddenly it wasn’t so bad.

Once they reached the car, Gerard stopped, an uncertain frown on his face.

“I don’t...I mean, you don’t have to let me come along,” he spoke, looking down at the ground. “I can probably get by on my own.”

Jamia raised an eyebrow at him, saying nothing before she got back inside her car, shutting the door. Frank turned to look at him, smiling slightly.

“Come on, Gee. It’ll be okay,” he told him softly. “Jamia’s a pretty cool chick. We can figure out the specifics later.”

Gerard smiled back at Frank, seemingly just as excited as Frank was to be in his presence again. “Okay. But only because I don’t want to be without you again.”

Frank smiled, pulling him towards the car and getting inside, sitting in the back with him. Jamia looked at them in the rear view mirror, giving them a sly smile.

“Nothing too crazy, yeah?” she chuckled, getting Gerard to blush slightly and causing Frank to roll his eyes. 

Yeah, Jamia would definitely be an interesting roommate, but Frank didn’t mind. He had Gerard back, and hopefully wouldn’t lose him again. He squeezed Gerard’s hand which was still intertwined with his, giving him a smile. Gerard smiled back, and Frank knew in that moment that everything would be okay.

Sure, they were stranded on Earth in the middle of Nevada, but they had each other. For now, that was all they really cared about.


	6. Earthly Duties

They arrived at Jamia’s house around ten minutes later. Frank was mostly asleep on Gerard’s shoulder by then, Gerard’s left arm around him affectionately. Jamia hadn’t lowered the volume of her music in the car, but it didn’t bother Frank much. He’d fallen asleep with his headphones on full blast more times than he could count.

“We’re here,” Jamia’s voice came from the front seat, the car coming to a stop. Frank groaned slightly, forcing himself to open his eyes. He was met with Gerard’s face only inches away from his, a smile on his lips. Frank smiled back, the grogginess not taking away from his happiness at seeing Gerard. 

“Well hi there,” Frank spoke, bringing his hand up to touch Gerard’s face. “You’re really cute.”

Gerard immediately blushed, smiling as he reached over to unbuckle his seat belt. Jamia got out of the car, looking back pointedly at the two.

Frank let out a large yawn, stretching his arms out as far as they could go. His limbs were pretty short, so that actually wasn’t very far at all, but it sure did feel good. 

He got out of the car, Gerard following out the same door. They followed Jamia to the front door of her apartment, where she stood fumbling with her keyring. She found the correct key, opening the door successfully and walking inside without looking behind herself.

Gerard reached out and grabbed Frank’s hand, which was cute but kind of unnecessary. They were only walking inside of an apartment, but whatever. It was the small things that mattered in life, right? Frank smiled over at his not-quite boyfriend, holding his hand in his own as they walked inside.

Frank kicked the door shut behind himself softly, but with enough force that it would actually click shut. Jamia stood in the middle of the small living room, her arms crossed.

“Well, I’m going to go to bed now and trust that you aren’t actually murderers,” she spoke, her tone sardonic. “The couch is all yours, there should be a blanket in one of those drawers over there. Oh, and I don’t have much in the kitchen, but feel free to take whatever.”

“Thank you,” Frank spoke, smiling at Jamia. Jamia simply shrugged, waving him off before going to her room, shutting the door.

Frank glanced over at Gerard, pulling him towards the couch and sitting there. Gerard sat beside him, still not letting go of his hand. Frank thought it was rather sweet, how Gerard seemed to not want to lose him so badly.

He was giving Frank a look of confusion now, to which Frank tilted his head at.

“I’m just curious, how did you actually get here?” Gerard spoke bluntly, his eyes never leaving Frank’s face. “I mean... _I_ was rayed, as I’m sure you’re very aware of.”

“I was rayed, too,” Frank admitted. Gerard’s eyes went wide, so Frank brought his hands up. “Whoa, no, not by an enemy or anything. I actually did it willingly.”

Gerard’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t understand...why would you do that, though?”

Frank blinked at Gerard a few times, amazed at his obliviousness. “Well if you put two and two together, Gee...”

Gerard’s eyes lit up as it all clicked, a smile forming on his lips. “Wait...did you get rayed to come and find me?”

“Bingo,” Frank grinned at him, giving his hand a squeeze. “I didn’t want you to be all alone and scared. And I may have been a little lonely.”

Gerard’s face fell as he came to a sudden realization, his lips twisting absentmindedly. “You didn’t have to do that for me, Frank. I know how much it hurt, and--”

“But I wanted to do it,” Frank cut in, reaching over and grabbing Gerard’s other hand, holding them both as he looked Gerard in the eye. “Gerard, you saved me from a life of utter Hell. My mom probably would have killed me had you not...well, abducted me.”

Gerard sighed, looking down at his lap. “Yeah, but...fuck, Frank. It felt like my insides were on fire, or worse.”

Frank shrugged, trying not to think too hard about it. He’d been through the same thing. If he lingered on the thought too long he’d probably be traumatized forever. He scooted closer to Gerard, pretty much sitting on his lap at this point.

“Look at me,” Frank instructed Gerard. When he complied, Frank brought his face close to Gerard’s. “I really like you, Gerard. I think you’re special. I think you’re a really nice...person, alien, whatever. I don’t care if we hardly know each other, I’ve seen and heard enough to understand that I want to get to know you more.”

Gerard smiled, his eyes flickering upwards to look into Frank’s. “You really think all that?”

“I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true,” Frank replied. He smiled at Gerard, feeling warm as the alien-man stared at him. “I want to get to know you better, Gerard. All your quirks, your interests, your favorite food...”

“I’d like to do that too,” Gerard grinned, reaching his hands up to cup Frank’s face. The moment was tranquil for a moment, two beings completely content with being in the other’s presence. Then Gerard came to yet another realization, his smile flickering.

“What is it?” Frank asked softly, not liking the troubled look on Gerard’s face. Gerard sighed.

“It’s just...Mikey got rayed, too,” Gerard told him. Frank felt his stomach drop. “And there’s no telling where he is. What’s the probability of him being here as well? It’s a miracle enough in itself that _you’re_ here.”

“We’ll find him,” Frank blurted out. He wasn’t exactly confident in that, but he didn’t want Gerard to stay so upset. “We’ll do whatever it takes, alright?”

Gerard knitted his eyebrows. “Frank...you say that like it’s so easy. He could be anywhere from Lebanon to Australia. He could be in Antarctica.”

“I thought I was going to end up in Antarctica,” Frank said absently. He shook his head. “That’s not the point, though. The point is, he probably isn’t in any of those places. He could be in the United States for all we know.”

“It could take years to find him,” Gerard sighed, looking down in dismay. “We may never find him at all.”

Frank frowned, giving each of Gerard’s hands a squeeze. “Let’s just focus on us for now, okay? We need to rest. But tomorrow, I promise you, we’ll think of a way to find Mikey.”

Gerard shrugged. “Okay, Frank.”

Frank moved off of Gerard, releasing each of his hands. “The real question is, how are we both going to sleep on this couch? Foot to foot?”

“One of us could sleep on the floor,” Gerard suggested, glancing down at the tiled floor. He grimaced. “Okay no, maybe not that.”

“We’re just gonna have to do foot to foot,” Frank shrugged. Gerard lay down without any more protests as Frank stood up, walking over to one of the drawers that Jamia had mentioned. He pulled it out, finding the blanket. He took it over to the couch, laying across from Gerard and draping it over the both of them.

Gerard stared at him, frowning. “This isn’t very comfortable.”

“It’s all we’ve got, Gee. Good night,” Frank replied, closing his eyes. He felt Gerard shifting around, trying to make do with the cheap couch.

 

It was sometime during the middle of the night that Frank’s body woke him up, alerting him that he was fucking _falling_. Before he had any time to process it, he was already on the floor, after hitting his head rather hard.

“Fuck,” he groaned, laying on his back and accepting his fate. Above him, Gerard’s eyes opened, a frenzied look in his gaze.

“Shit, did I kick you off?” he questioned, sitting up. “Are you alright?”

“Just dandy,” Frank grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his head. “What the hell, Gerard?”

“It was just so uncomfortable,” Gerard complained before taking Frank’s needs into consideration. He frowned. “Did you hit your head?”

“It would seem so,” Frank replied, deadpan. He attempted to stand himself up, nearly falling onto Gerard in his attempt to sit back on the sofa. Gerard steadied him, his hands on his chest as he examined him carefully.

“Where does it hurt, Frank?” Gerard wanted to know. Frank pointed at a spot on his head that was hurting more than anything else, and Gerard held his palm out, placing it over the crown of Frank’s head.

A small stream of light emanated from his hand, and just like that, the pain was...gone.

Frank’s eyes opened as wide as they could as he looked at Gerard in awe. “Did you just...heal me?”

Gerard lowered his hand, giving Frank a blank look. “Uh, yeah. I’m guessing humans don’t do that?”

“Not quite like that,” Frank choked out, in utter amazement. “Damn it Gerard, stop giving me even more reasons to like you.”

The alien’s cheeks flushed at the compliment. “It was just a simple healing light...any of my kind could do it, no problem. We just can’t heal ourselves, that’s all. It would be counterproductive.”

“Because you’re using your own energy?” Frank asked, feeling himself even more interested in Gerard’s kind. Before now, they’d exhbited no signs of being out of the ordinary, save for that one time a while ago when Mikey’s eyes had flashed red.

“Exactly,” Gerard shrugged, regarding Frank seriously. “Do you feel better now? Is anything off? I’ve never actually healed a human before.”

Frank considered it, wiggling around his arms and legs, then turning his head around experimentally. Nothing felt wrong. He simply felt the way he had before he’d hit his head; sleepy and confused.

“I feel fine,” he answered. Gerard visibly relaxed, leaning back into the couch. Frank opened his mouth wide to let loose a yawn, frowning at Gerard once he’d finished. “How are we supposed to sleep now?”

“I’m not actually that tired,” Gerard told Frank, though he couldn’t tell if Gerard was lying or not. “You can have the full couch, I don’t mind. I’ll just sit on the floor, or something.”  
Frank wanted to object, but his eyelids felt heavy, like they had bricks weighing them down. “Okay. Thanks, Gee.”  
He lay down on the couch once more, pulling the blanket over himself. He checked to see where Gerard was -- the floor, as he’d said he would be -- before allowing himself to fall back asleep.

***  
“Frank!”

Frank opened his eyes, still very much not wanting to be awake. He saw Gerard sitting on the floor in front of him, on his knees and his hands on the couch cushion.

“Jamia just left for work,” Gerard spoke more softly, now that Frank was awake. “And I’m really bored. You’ve been sleeping for a long time.”

“Probably something to do with my body being literally zapped to Earth,” Frank commented, closing his eyes again. Gerard wasn’t having it, yanking the blanket off of him. Frank groaned, sitting up and looking at Gerard again. “What do you want to do?”

“I’m kinda hungry. Wanna find a café or something?” Gerard suggested, sounding rather energetic for it to be...whatever time it was.

“What time is it? And we don’t have any money,” Frank pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest. Gerard looked up at the clock on the wall, giving Frank a pointed look.

“Two in the afternoon,” he told him. “Late enough for you to be awake. Also late enough for it to be past lunch but not quite dinner. And also, Jamia left us some money on the counter for such needs.”

“Well, then let’s go get some linner?” Frank questioned, standing up and steadying himself the best he could. Gerard quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Linner? Is that the combination of lunch, and dinner? Couldn’t it also be dunch then?”

“I don’t know, I’m stupid.”

Gerard didn’t argue with that, and Frank felt kind of offended, but he also kind of deserved it. Who the fuck said linner? He sighed, making his way towards the bathroom.

“Hurry up so we can go eat linner!”

Frank scoffed at Gerard, shutting the door behind himself briskly.

 

“This is a great place to eat linner at.”

Frank rolled his eyes at Gerard’s choice of words. They’d found a nice little restaurant just inside of town, having walked the entire way there. It was only a five minute walk, and Gerard had kept up enough chatter so that it wasn’t exactly boring.  
Frank had ordered a simple spaghetti dish, while Gerard had decided to get some weird salad. Frank didn’t call him out on it, because people got what they liked, but he would not have chosen it for himself.

“It is pretty great,” Frank agreed with Gerard, taking in their surroundings. There weren’t many other people there, which was good in Frank’s opinion. It also actually didn’t smell moldy or have scratched up tile floors.

Their waitress came by not even a minute later, placing their food in front of them and giving Frank a lingering smile.

“I hope you enjoy,” she spoke with a flirtatious undertone. Frank frowned at her, glancing over to where Gerard sat. He seemed unaware of what was happening, but Frank knew full and well.

“My _boyfriend_ and I will definitely enjoy our food. Thank you,” Frank told her sweetly. He watched with glee as her expression went from shocked to angry, recoiling away from Frank. She strode off in the direction away from Frank and Gerard, evidently upset that Frank didn’t want her.

Frank felt pleased with himself, totally not realizing what he’d actually said. Gerard was staring at him, his cheeks red.

Frank quirked a brow. “What?”

“You called me your...boyfriend,” Gerard pointed out, reaching out to grab his fork. “I mean, I didn’t know we actually were boyfriends, and I am not at all objecting to it, but...”

“Oh shit, I just said the first thing that came to mind,” Frank said, mentally kicking himself. “We don’t have to be together yet if you don’t want to be.”

“I didn’t say that,” Gerard mumbled, looking down at his food. He seemed off-put by the prospect that Frank hadn’t actually meant to say what he had. Frank felt like an asshole.

“I just...don’t want to rush things,” Frank shrugged, reaching out and grabbing his own fork. He twisted the noodles around it. “I don’t know how relationships usually work for you, but...”

“Don’t worry about it, Frank,” Gerard smiled at him, trying to brighten the situation back up. “I understand what you mean, okay? We don’t have to be boyfriends.”

Frank was still a bit unsure about the whole thing. But he smiled anyway, bringing his food to his mouth. “Okay.”

The rest of their meal went by fine. They mostly made small talk about the town around them, and Frank decided to try some of Gerard’s salad. It actually wasn’t that bad, and the phrase ‘don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it’ came to Frank’s mind.

Gerard had stolen some of Frank’s spaghetti for that, and it had ended in a small play fight that seemed to patch things right up. They didn’t need to put a label on what they had, especially so soon. And besides, their circumstances weren’t normal by any means. If their relationship progressed rather fast then it wouldn’t be too weird.

They finished eating a bit later, paying for the food before leaving the restaurant, full and happy.

Gerard had grabbed Frank’s hand again, and Frank thought perhaps Gerard just liked to be in constant contact with him. They’d constantly touched feet underneath the table, and Gerard reached over and put his hand over Frank’s at some point. Gerard just really seemed to crave touch.

“Do your kind really not touch much?” Frank wondered out loud. They were walking down the sidewalk, in pursuit of shops to look inside. “That really perplexes me.”

“Not usually,” Gerard answered absently, more preoccupied with looking around the town. Probably looking for a comic store. “We do like to hold hands sometimes, though. Hey, does that look like a comic store to you?”

Gerard pointed towards a small shop, and after Frank agreed that it could possibly sell comic books they went towards it.

It did end up being a comic store of some kind, one that also sold playing cards and board games. Gerard lit up when he noticed the Dungeons and Dragons paraphernalia. He rushed over to it and nearly yanked Frank’s arm out of its socket.

“Frank, look! I had these pieces up on my spaceship, before...” he trailed off, sounding sad. “That’s unimportant. Aren’t they super awesome?”

“They are,” Frank agreed. He didn’t actually care much about D&D, but Gerard acted like it was the best thing ever created. “How much money do we have left?”

“Oh, let’s check,” Gerard said, reaching in his pocket and pulling out a twenty dollar bill. He showed Frank. “Why?”

“Do you want to buy this stuff again? You know, to replace your old crap,” Frank suggested. Gerard frowned, shaking his head.

“Jamia gave us this money for food! Besides, we need to save up if we’re ever going to get our own place.”

Frank shrugged. “You’re right. I’m gonna need to get a job or something too.”

“Someone needs a job?”

Frank and Gerard both turned to look at the counter. A guy with poofy brown hair stood behind it, his brown eyes studying the two of them. His eyebrows raised up expectantly.

“We both do, actually,” Frank spoke up, pulling Gerard closer to the counter. “A lot of shit happened, and we hit a tight spot.”

“It just so happens that I’m currently hiring,” the guy smiled. He took in Frank and Gerard’s appearances, noting their linked hands. His eyes then went back up to their faces. “Do either of you know anything about comics?”

Gerard raised his free hand into the air like an excited child. “Oh, I do! I know basically everything there is to know about the comic universe.”

The guy grinned at Gerard, his gaze shifting to Frank. “And you?”

Frank shrugged. “I know a thing or two.”

The guy pursed his lips, bringing his hand up to his chin contemplatively. “Hmm. Then maybe you’d be better suited for the music store across the street.”

Frank’s eyes lit up. “Music store?”

“My friend works there,” the guy explained. “His name is Ryan, he’s a nice guy. You know about music, right?”

“Fuck yeah,” Frank replied, forgetting formalities as he grinned. “Music is my passion, man.”

The guy smiled. “Great, then you should definitely go over there!” he turned back to Gerard. “By the way, my name’s Ray. Ray Toro. Also known as, your potential new boss.”

“I’m Gerard,” Gerard spoke, reaching his hand out to shake Ray’s. “Great to meet you. Um...what do I have to do in order to get hired?”

“Well usually places have conventional interviews. You know, where they make you fill out a form and ask you loads of questions,” Ray told him, walking out from behind the counter. “But I’m just going to ask you some trivia on some comics, and maybe D&D. Depending on your answers, you’re hired.”

Gerard’s jaw nearly dropped. “It’s that easy?”

“That easy,” Ray echoed cheerfully. He glanced over at Frank, who was watching them both intently. “Why don’t you go ahead and go to the music store? This may take a little while.”

“Sure thing,” Frank shrugged, making eye contact with Gerard. He seemed really excited. “I’ll see you soon?”

Gerard nodded, and then Frank was on his way down to the music store. This would be interesting.

 

Frank walked through the door, a bell chiming above him. The floor was carpeted unlike the comic shop’s, a dark red color that went throughout the entire store. Around him were hundreds of CDs and vinyls, along with framed posters from various bands. Frank had literally just walked into his own personal heaven.

“Can I help you?”

Frank turned to look over to where a guy stood near him. He had some form of a fauxhawk that was dark brown, his hazel-colored doe eyes lined with black. He was rather gangly, but it seemed to suit him. Basically, if Frank didn’t already have an interest in someone, this guy would be next on his list. 

“Uh, yeah. Your friend Ray, with the hair?” Frank gestured above his head, making motions to express the fluff on Ray’s head. “He recommended I come here to ask about a job.”

The guy, who Frank could only assume was named Ryan, nodded in recognition.

“I’m a bit short-staffed,” he allowed, walking towards the counter. “I’m the only one that works here. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, few people live in this part of town.”

“I have,” Frank replied, following Ryan. “You’re Ryan, right?”

“The one and only,” Ryan replied, his voice remarkably monotone. Frank had never heard someone speak that way for so long. “So, you want me to get you a sheet to fill out? I’ll probably hire you regardless, but it’s perfunctory.”

“Sure,” Frank shrugged, willing to do whatever it took. Ryan walked behind the counter, pulling out a stack of papers and slipping one over to Frank. He placed a pen on top of it.  
Frank walked over, filling out the form as quickly as he could. He hadn’t actually had a job before, but he knew how this sort of thing was supposed to go. Ryan took the form from him as soon as he finished, placing it on the other side of the counter.

He then returned to where he was in front of Frank, setting his elbows on the counter, his chin atop his hands. He regarded Frank boredly. “What’s your music taste?”

“Mostly punk,” Frank told him with a slight shrug. “Misfits...Black Flag. I also like other stuff, like the Smashing Pumpkins, Iron Maiden, that sort of thing.”

Ryan eyed him carefully. “The Beatles?”

Frank nodded. “Yeah, the Beatles are pretty great.”

That captured his attention. He even gave Frank a slight smile, but it was gone quickly enough. “I definitely wasn’t going to even consider hiring you if you disliked the Beatles.”

“Pshh, who doesn’t like the Beatles?” Frank asked, watching as Ryan’s face lit up slightly. Frank dithered a bit. “Is there anything else I need to do?”

Ryan’s gaze flicked over to Frank’s filled out form. “I have many applications to sieve through, as you can see. I may get back to you within two to three weeks.”

The corners of Frank’s mouth twitched. “Ah, what a shame. I was hoping I could start sometime this week.”

Ryan shrugged. “I’ll give you a call.”

“Sounds good to me. Thank you for your consideration,” Frank replied, just as deadpan. He then turned on his heels and walked out the door, the little bell above him dinging once again.

He was halfway across the road when the door opened again, the bell alerting Frank. He turned to look, seeing Ryan standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame.  
“You’re hired,” he called out, still managing to sound monotone even while yelling. “You’ll start tomorrow at around nine!”  
“I’ll be there!” Frank called back, grinning as he gave him a thumbs up. He watched as Ryan made his way in the store, the door shutting behind him. 

Frank shook his head slightly, chuckling to himself as he made his way across the empty street to the comic store. He could see Gerard through the door, talking animatedly about something with Ray. He was using his hands and everything, something Frank himself was guilty of doing.

Frank walked through the door, hoping enough time had passed that Ray’s trivia would be over.

“That’s what was supposed to happen,” Gerard was saying. “It was never meant to end like that...oh, hi Frank.”

He turned his attention towards Frank as soon as he walked in. He gave Frank a smile, to which Frank returned easily.

“I have a job,” Frank told Gerard immediately, feeling a bit giddy. He’d never had an actual job before. Gerard smiled at him happily as Frank made his way to stand at his side, looking at Ray. “Does he have one, too?”

“He definitely does,” Ray assured him, that same cheerful tone from earlier still sticking. “We were just discussing some very important matters, but he passed all the trivia with flying colors.”

“Good job,” Frank told Gerard with a proud smile. Gerard shrugged, not seeming surprised at all.

“I know my shit,” he said confidently. “If there’s one thing I know about, it’s comics. Well, those and Star Wars.”

Ray’s eyes lit up. “Oh man, you like Star Wars too? Why are we just now meeting?”

“No idea,” Gerard replied, grinning at Ray. Frank almost felt a little jealous, but it was clear that they didn’t like each other like _that_. “At least we can be nerds together now, correct?”

“Correct,” Ray echoed. “I’ll be seeing a lot more of you now that you’re working for me.”

“But of course,” Gerard smiled. He looked over at Frank, turning his attention towards the shorter guy. “Do you like that Ryan guy good enough?”

“He seems great,” Frank said honestly. “Very...cynical, I guess you could say.”

“Ryan is definitely very cynical,” Ray confirmed with a slight chuckle. “It adds to his charm, though.”

Frank nodded, looking around the comic store one last time. “Well, this is swell and all, but are you ready to leave yet Gee?”

“Yup. I’ll be back tomorrow though, at eight!” he said happily, glancing at Ray again and waving. “See you then!”

“See you!” Ray called out, waving back at Gerard as he and Frank made their way out of the store. They walked back down the sidewalk, Frank grabbing Gerard’s hand first this time, smiling at him sweetly.

“Today has been rather productive,” Frank said happily, swinging his and Gerard’s hands around slightly. “Despite all we’ve been through, I think we may actually end up alright.”

Gerard grinned at Frank, nodding. “I think so too, Frankie.” he then frowned slightly. “I just wish Mikey was here with me, y’know? It’s weird not knowing where he is.”

Frank’s mood changed with Gerard’s, frowning as well. “I know, Gee. I hope we’ll be able to find him.”

Gerard shrugged, keeping quiet as they continued their walk down the sidewalk. Even the joy of a new job couldn’t replace the hollow feeling in his heart. Frank felt horrible for him, and he knew that they would have to try and look for Mikey, and soon. He just wanted to have a few minutes of peace, that was all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update this! (That is, if people are in fact still reading this?)


	7. Work

Frank’s first day of work went pretty much how he expected it to. Ryan showed him where everything was, gave him a lanyard, then left him behind the counter. The population in this small town was hardly existent, so he didn’t expect them to be that busy anyway.  
He spent most of his time with his elbow on the counter, holding his chin up as he looked through a music magazine. He was only going to be working for a few hours, but it seemed to go by impossibly slow without a steady influx of customers.

They got one customer before lunch, an edgy-looking punk kid. He had gauges that were obnoxiously huge and his black hair done up in some weird form of mohawk. Naturally, he was in there to buy Slayer’s new album. Frank wasn’t actually aware that they’d released a new album, then again he’d literally been in space for a little while there.

“I’m not surprised you don’t listen to Slayer,” the guy had snorted. He looked at Frank from head to toe, taking his sweet time. Frank stood his ground, crossing his arms defiantly as the kid went on. “You look like a fairy that decided to rebel against daddy.”

“Listen, shithead, you don’t know a damn thing about my life--”

“Everything okay in here, Frank?” Ryan’s voice thankfully interrupted them. He gracefully made his way over to the counter, his long legs carrying him effortlessly. He looked like a gazelle, or some shit. He glanced over at the punk kid, giving him this look that was somehow intimidating despite his appearance. “Can I assist you?”

The kid was not dissuaded. His eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets as he pointed at Frank accusingly. “This fucker just called me a shithead, you’re not gonna get him in trouble for that?”

“I happen to be the manager. I can do as I please,” Ryan crossed his arms. He kept his voice carefully even, yet bordering on slight annoyance. “Now, I’ll ask you again; can I assist you?”

Frank wasn’t quite sure how Ryan did it, but he actually got the kid to stop. Maybe it was the slightly murderous look in Ryan’s gaze, or the fact that no matter how angry the kid seemed to get, Ryan kept perfect composure. 

The kid huffed out a breath, glancing over at Frank one last time. “I was just asking where Slayer’s new album is, that’s all.”

Ryan extended an abnormally long finger in the direction of the CD’s. “You would find that particular band’s new album under the letter ‘S’, naturally. I’m surprised you even needed to ask.”

“Probably just wanted to pick a fight with me,” Frank muttered under his breath. He knew he shouldn’t have, but he was still pretty pissed.

Ryan shot him a warning look, causing chills to go down his spine. “I didn’t say you could speak,” he said shortly. He then turned his attention back to the kid. “Is that all?”

“Yep,” the kid mumbled, walking over to the aisle filled with CD’s. Ryan turned to face Frank, placing a hand on his hip. 

Frank pretended to be busy, writing something down in one of the notepads, but he could still feel Ryan’s eyes on him. He sighed, looking up at his boss.  
“I’m sorry I acted out,” he said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. “Even if that guy did insult me--”

“You should take it in stride,” Ryan interjected smoothly, twisting his lips. “This is your first day at work. You really should be trying harder to impress me.”

Frank sighed heavily, setting his elbow on the counter and sitting his chin atop his hand. “I know, sir. I really am sorry. I’ll try to do better next time.”

“Good.” Ryan replied simply, passing by Frank, placing his hand on Frank’s head briefly. Ryan may have been slightly unprofessional with the way he handled things, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t fire Frank if he acted up again.

***

The rest of the week went by much smoother. There were no more weird punk kids that looked like they wanted to skin Frank alive, and so he was left to watch over the store in peace. The only customers they really got were teenage boys, mostly, but that was alright with Frank. He was only nearly an adult himself.

Lunch always came pretty slowly, though. It was probably because Frank was mostly staring at the clock until it struck twelve, like he would’ve at school, or maybe it was because they were in a time warp of some sort. And today also happened to be Friday, therefore Frank’s last work day of the week.

As soon as the clock began blaring out its alarm, he took his lanyard off, placing it on the desk. “I’m off to lunch,” he called out to Ryan, who had just gotten back from his own lunch break. “I’m sure a flood of customers won’t suddenly come bursting in, so you’ll be alright won’t ya?”

“I’ll be fine,” Ryan called back. Frank put everything else in order, walking out from behind the counter and towards the door. He smiled, anticipating seeing Gerard. He’d been visiting him every day on his lunch breaks, and today would be no exception.

He made his way out the door, crossing the street with a hop in his step. He kind of felt like a school girl with a crush, but the thought of Gerard made him inexplicably happy.  
They’d gotten closer that week, which was awesome. Every day after work, they would walk home together, hands practically sewn together the whole way there. When they got there, they would relax and watch TV, or maybe play Jamia’s Playstation. And there was plenty of cuddling, which Frank would never say no to.

They still had to sleep on the couch, unfortunately, but Jamia had placed some pillows on the floor to soften the fall, should Gerard knock Frank off again. Frank appreciated it, because it ended up happening more times than you’d expect.  
For instance, one night, Gerard had fallen asleep before Frank. Frank was laying on Gerard’s chest, his arms wrapped around him. As they hadn’t fallen asleep like this before, Frank was hopeful that he probably wouldn’t end up on the ground for once. 

Sadly, that did not end up happening, and Frank had to collect himself and get off the floor a few hours later. Why did Gerard have to move so damn much in his sleep?

But he looked back on even those memories fondly, a stupid smile on his face. He really liked Gerard, he knew that much.  
Presently, he could see him through the door when he got close enough. His dark bangs were hanging over his head as he leaned over, trying to operate the cash register, a befuddled expression on his face.

Frank walked inside, no bell sounding off to alert anyone of his presence. He made his way over to the comics section, hiding himself as he waited for Gerard to finish up. He liked to try and surprise Gerard if he could, though mostly he was really attentive and noticed Frank coming through the door. But now, Gerard kept frowning at the register, his face lighting up he finally finished whatever he was doing.

“Hi, Frank!” 

Frank nearly jumped out of his skin, turning to look at the owner of the voice. 

Frank calmed down considerably, holding his hand to his chest. “Fuck, Ray, you scared the living shit out of me.”

Ray smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, man. Come to see Gerard?”

Frank glanced towards the cash register, where Gerard was standing. He was looking in their direction, now, a confused look on his face.

Frank sighed. “I was gonna surprise him, but it’s cool,” he smiled at Ray, walking out from behind the shelves of comics. He raised a hand in greeting to Gerard. “’Sup, Gee?”

Gerard grinned, his face lighting up. “Frankie! How’s work so far?”

Frank felt himself growing warm. Gerard seemed so happy, just because he was there.

“Pretty good, just the usual.”

He walked closer to Gerard, standing in front of the counter. He smiled, leaning in closer. “Don’t I deserve a kiss? I walked all the way across the street.”

Gerard’s eyes widened. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry--”

Frank cut him off by laughing almost obnoxiously loud, but he couldn’t fucking help it. Gerard was so adorable.

“I’m kidding, Gee,” Frank told him, giggling a bit inbetween words. He leaned in close, completely forgetting Ray’s presence in the store. “But not about the kiss.”

Gerard smiled, still looking confused, but his eyes slipped shut immediately when Frank pressed his lips to his. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but Frank savored it. He grinned at Gerard, their noses touching. Gerard opened his eyes, smiling at Frank in amazement.

“I still can’t get over how it feels to kiss,” Gerard admitted in this low, adorable voice. Frank’s heart did backflips. Gerard glanced over to the back door, where Ray had evidently gone. Then he looked back at Frank, a little half smile on his face. “You should probably actually eat, you know. That’s why it’s called a lunch break.”

“I know, I just had to see you. Just like every other day,” Frank smiled, bringing his hand up to touch Gerard’s face briefly. “I’ll see you after work, alright?”

Gerard leaned back, nodding. “Yep, see you then. Be careful!”

“I will!” Frank told him cheerfully, waving at him as he walked towards the door. He was contemplating what to eat, not a care in the world as he walked down the sidewalk, a fuzzy feeling overtaking him; it felt like he was wrapped up in a warm blanket.

He’d almost made it to the closest McDonald’s. He was going to order one of their caesar salads, and maybe some fries. That sounded appetizing as hell in his hunger.

He made it to the end of the sidewalk, turning to look both ways before he crossed. His eyes interlocked with some guy’s, and he wasn’t sure why, but it made his blood run cold. The dude wasn’t exactly frightening or anything. He was wearing a fedora, and he was even shorter than Frank was. But something about the guy’s gaze was disturbing. He looked away, pretending like he hadn’t seen him as he began crossing the street. But that didn’t work out, because he suddenly felt a hand wrapping around his arm, dragging him to the other sidewalk across the street.

“Who the fuck are you?” Frank challenged immediately, his feet struggling to keep up with the guy’s pace, turning to face his pursuer. The guy was frowning at him.

“Patrick Stump, since you asked so kindly,” the smaller man replied sarcastically. He then sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Did Pete indeed kidnap you, then zap you to Earth?”

Realization flooded Frank at first; this was the Patrick Stump, the one Pete was having a fight with. He frowned, feeling kind of defensive on Pete’s behalf. It wasn’t like Pete had wanted to zap him, Frank had asked him to.

“Yeah, but I asked him to zap--”

“He still should not have done it,” Patrick cut him off. He looked a bit apologetic. “Forgive me for interrupting, but...we are not supposed to zap humans to Earth. Their bodies cannot take it, and...” he stopped, knitting his eyebrows together. “How is it that you are still in one piece, anyway?”

Frank shrugged. “No fucking clue. It did hurt like absolute Hell, though, if that helps any.”

Patrick pursed his lips, mulling something over. “I talked to Pete about some things.”

Frank raised his eyebrows. “Did you? Are you guys...okay now?”

Patrick frowned at Frank. “I was not sure if you were aware of the reasoning behind the war. But at any rate, yes, I guess we are okay now. The only problem is that Pete has been taken into Custody.”

Frank frowned. That was the place Gerard had been taken to, after he’d talked to Frank without permission. He hadn’t told Frank much about it, but Frank was sure it couldn’t be a good place.

“Just because he zapped me here?” Frank asked, feeling guilty. “Even though I asked him to?”

Patrick nodded sadly. “It goes against our Code. I’m not sure how long he is going to be there, but once he told me of your being zapped here, I immediately came to find you.” he tilted his head slightly. “Have you found Gerard?” 

Frank smiled, even though he still felt horrible about Pete. “Yep! We both got jobs, actually. I work over there, at the music store,” he pointed towards the building. “And Gerard works across the street, at a comic book store.”

Patrick frowned suddenly. “Gerard is working for a human?”

Frank furrowed his eyebrows. “Um, yeah, that’s how jobs work. Do you think that’s a bad thing?”

“I mean no offense,” Patrick held up his hands. “But yes, it is a bad thing. Gerard is an alien! To work for a human is humiliating.”

Frank felt a little offended, frowning at Patrick pointedly.

“I am sorry,” Patrick told Frank quickly, stepping closer to him. “I did not mean that humans are, well, scum--”

“It’s been nice talking with you, Patrick,” Frank said flatly, walking straight past Patrick and towards the McDonald’s. Alien overlords were so full of shit.

“Wait, Frank,” Patrick called out, and though Frank gave no pause, he went on. “Have you found Michael?”

Frank stopped. He turned to face Patrick, his face neutral.

“No. Me and Gerard have no idea where Mikey is.”

“I could help you find him,” Patrick urged. Although he’d just royally pissed Frank off, he could prove to be useful for Gerard’s sake. So Frank walked back over to him. “With my advanced technology, it will be easy. I found you--”

“Wait for us to get off of work, then I’ll tell Gerard,” Frank cut him off. “You’ve already wasted all of my lunch and now I can’t eat, so thanks for that.”

“I’m so sorry,” Patrick nearly wailed. He apologized way too fucking much, but what pissed Frank off the most was that he sounded like he meant it. “Where should I meet you after, and at what time?”

“Outside the music store, at around three.”

With that, Frank passed Patrick and made his way back to work, ignoring his stomach’s incessant grumbling.

***

The next three hours passed by so fucking slowly, but they did indeed pass. Frank didn’t tell Ryan exactly what happened, so that he didn’t sound like a total lunatic, but he did explain that he ran into an old friend and was unable to get lunch. Ryan felt sorry for him, so he gave him a granola bar that he had in the back room. Frank was grateful for it, but it did very little to ease his hunger. The hours passed by, and just when Frank thought he was about to pass out from hunger pangs, the clock chimed three -- they had an actual Grandfather clock at the store, surprsingly -- and Frank felt himself perk up immediately.

He clocked out as quickly as was possible, slamming the pen down and nearly ripping his lanyard off, throwing it across the counter.

“I’m out!” he called out to Ryan. He merely replied with a disinterested ‘uh-huh’, busy with something across the store. Frank really didn’t give a fuck, though. He was going to get that goddamn caesar salad and fries.

He’d only just made it out the door when, of course, he was stopped.

“Frank!” Patrick’s voice called out, and Frank felt his arm being grabbed for the second time that day. He shrugged it off, sending Patrick a menacing glare.

“We’ll talk it over at McDonald’s,” he growled. Patrick looked taken aback, letting Frank’s arm go with ease. Frank huffed, walking across the street to the comic book store. Gerard got off an hour before Frank, but they’d decided that he’d hang out there until Frank was off. It wasn’t like it was boring for Gerard or anything, what with the mass collection of comics.

He pushed the door open swiftly, the door shutting behind him. Patrick had been behind him somewhere, but suddenly he was in the middle of the store. Frank heaved a great sigh.

“Gee?” he called out.

“Over here!” Gerard called out. Frank walked in the direction that his voice had come from, ignoring Patrick pointedly. He found Gerard curled up on a beanbag, a comic book in his hand. He grinned when he saw Frank.

“Hey. We’ve got company,” Frank told him. Patrick made his presence known then, smiling slightly at Gerard.

“I’m glad to see you unharmed,” he told Gerard happily. 

Gerard’s face lit up at the sight of Patrick, hopping up out of the beanbag and rushing over to him, throwing his arms around him in delight. “You found us!”

Patrick chuckled, the low melodic sound filling up the store. Frank wanted to hate it, but it was kind of really nice. He was jealous that Gerard had hugged Patrick first, though, no matter how reasonable it was.

Gerard pulled back, grinning at Patrick. “Frank let himself be zapped back to Earth to come and find me! Can you believe that?”

Patrick’s expression darkened, the happy mood changing completely. “I can’t,” he murmured. He placed his hands on Gerard’s shoulders, looking at him seriously. “Pete has been taken into Custody because of this, Gerard.”

“Seriously?” Gerard asked, completely stunned. “But...Frank asked to be sent here.”

“You and I both know that it doesn’t matter,” Patrick heaved a great sigh. “Gerard, I need your help to--”

“I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I’m fucking starving,” Frank cut them off, walking towards the door. “Join me if you are so inclined.”

Gerard frowned at Frank, but Frank pretended not to see. Frank was well aware he was being a bitch, but this was the second time that day that Patrick had interrupted his meal time. Gerard didn’t deserve Frank being mad at him, though.

He heard them continue talking about some bullshit as he walked down the street, aware of their presences behind him, their footsteps and voices a steady reminder.  
He put his hands in his coat pockets, looking directly ahead. He spotted maybe three or four people walking around the square, and while it was surprising to him it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Too many people made him feel crowded.

“Frankie?” Gerard spoke meekly, catching up with Frank. Honestly, Frank hadn’t even noticed that he’d stopped talking to Patrick. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“God, no,” Frank sighed, turning his head to look at Gerard. His greenish-brown eyes were all big, his eyebrows knitted up in concern. Frank frowned, guilt washing over him. “Hey, I’m sorry I snapped at you. You really didn’t deserve that.”

Gerard smiled at him brightly. “It’s alright, Frankie. Let’s just get you some food. You’re not you when you’re hungry.”

Frank rolled his eyes, though he felt himself smiling. “You’ve been watching TV too much, you’re starting to sound like a human.”

“What, because I quote commercials?” Gerard asked, voice amused. 

“Yep. Soon enough, you’ll be just as annoying as everyone else,” Frank told him with a grin. Gerard nudged him playfully.

***

Half an hour later, Frank was finally full. He’d gotten the caesar salad he’d wanted, along with a large fry and even a McFlurry. He knew he was still spending Jamia’s money, but they were working now. He could pay her back when he got paid next week.

Patrick had been sitting at the table with them, looking slightly uncomfortable. He must’ve thought Frank was a Grade A asshole at this point, and now that he could think rationally, Frank felt awful. Patrick seemed pretty nice, and Gerard obviously liked him.

“So Patrick, I’m really sorry if I came across as a jerk,” Frank spoke genuinely. Patrick regarded him seriously, twisting his lips in thought.

“It’s alright,” Patrick spoke, his voice free of any angry undertones. He even gave Frank a small smile for a moment before dropping it. “We have more important matters at hand, do we not?”

“We do,” Gerard spoke up, gaining the two guys’ attention. He was frowning, his eyes misty. “I want my brother back, and that is what is most important to me right now.”  
“Right. And after we find him, we must help Pete,” Patrick spoke firmly. His face nearly mirrored Gerard’s. “This is all my fault. If we had not had the fight, he would not be in Custody, Michael would not be missing...”

“Patrick, these things simply happen,” Gerard told him gently. “You had no way of knowing the repercussions of such a fight. Pete is also at fault for prolonging the fight and not apologizing, isn’t he?”

“I am the one that was unwilling to accept his apology,” Patrick admitted, looking at the table. “It is indeed my fault.”

Frank frowned. This entire table was filled with such sadness, such negativity. 

“If you don’t mind me asking...what was the fight about?” Gerard asked, his eyes fixed intently on Patrick. 

Patrick’s ears tinted pink. “That’s...unimportant, you see. The fact is that we fought, no matter how stupid it was, and it has brought us to this.” he cleared his throat, making eye contact with Gerard and Frank. “So, are we ready to board my spaceship?”

Frank nodded, standing up when Patrick did. Gerard followed, eyeing Frank.

“Frank gets very sick after spaceship rides,” he confessed to Patrick, concern etched on his face. “Just keep that in mind, would you?”

Frank smiled softly at Gerard, grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers together. “You remembered. Thank you, that’s sweet of you.”

Patrick looked from Frank to Gerard, his eyes widening as he put the pieces together.

“Are you...in a relationship?” he asked, shocked. Gerard paled visibly, snatching his hand away from Frank.

“Wh-what would make you ask that?” Gerard asked, his voice wobbly. 

Frank furrowed his eyebrows, his heart sinking into his stomach. Something did not feel right about this situation, not at all.

“You were holding hands,” Patrick stated calmly. He crossed his arms, and there was a weird sort of tension filling the building. Frank was sure that the random people surrounding them could even feel it. 

“Friends can hold hands!” Gerard shrieked, which did not help the situation at all. Patrick glared at the two.

“If I were not so worried about the current state of affairs, I would be onto you two. But as we have important matters, I will let it slide,” Patrick said sternly, turning and walking out of the McDonald’s. People were staring, but Frank didn’t care. The atmosphere had changed completely, just like that. Just because he’d held Gerard’s hand.

Frank stared at Gerard, stood in front of him, his heart heavy in his chest. He felt nauseous all of a sudden. Gerard was just looking down at the floor.

“Why...why did you lie to him?” Frank asked, voice soft. He sounded just as hurt as he felt.

Gerard sighed. “I had to, Frank.”

“Why?” Frank demanded to know. He sounded pathetic even to his own ears. Gerard glanced at him quickly, his eyes sorrowful.

“Let’s just go. And don’t hold my hand around Patrick, okay?”

He then walked out the door, trailing after Patrick, while Frank stood there, dumbfounded and hurt. He’d thought that he and Gerard were building something, a relationship of some sort, and now Gerard was denying it to his Leader? Was there some rule about aliens dating humans, or something? And if so, why did Gerard care? Perhaps Frank just wasn’t important enough to him after all. The world suddenly seemed blurry to Frank, but perhaps that was due to the tears filling up his eyes. Gerard had rejected him, and it fucking hurt.

He choked back a sob, walking out of the fast food restaurant. He spotted Gerard immediately, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward him.

“You know what? If I can’t even hold your hand in front of Patrick, you can go find Mikey without me,” Frank sniffed. He tried making the words as venomous as possible, but he was crying, and it made his voice sound wrecked.

Gerard jumped at Frank’s touch, eyes wide. “Wh-- Frank, you can’t be--”

“Good-bye, Gerard. You know where to find me,” Frank murmured, totally defeated. He ran away from Gerard as quickly as possible, trying to remember the way to Jamia’s from here. His brain was so muddled.

“I think you forgot something very important.”

Frank stopped, right before he ran into Gerard, who’d appeared out of thin air. That was so fucking unfair, how he could just do that whenever he pleased. How was Frank supposed to get away?

Gerard looked really hurt, which pissed Frank off. What right did he have to be hurt? Frank hadn’t rejected him.

“Just let me go, Gerard,” Frank begged, narrowing his eyes into slits. There was no way he looked intimidating in any way due to the tears streaming down his cheeks, but he could damn well try. 

Gerard sighed, reaching a hand out to touch Frank.  
“Frank, listen--”

“I don’t want to be with you right now!”

Gerard’s eyes widened, stepping back, his hand dropping. He looked as if Frank had just slapped him across the face. And really, it probably would’ve hurt him less if Frank had done just that.  
Regardless, Frank took the opportunity to run past Gerard, suddenly remembering the directions to Jamia’s. The rational part of his brain was screaming for him to go back to Gerard, that he was really going to regret this later. But the emotional side of his brain was telling him that Gerard could fuck right off, and Frank agreed with that right now.

So, he kept running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.


	8. Absence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Frank regretted his decision immediately. 

It wasn’t like he’d actually _wanted_ to leave Gerard, he’d wanted the exact opposite of that. It was just that Gerard’s rejection had really hurt him, and he’d felt unwanted. Even if now, Frank knew it wasn’t like that at all, he couldn’t help how he’d been feeling in that moment.

He turned around, surveying the area surrounding him. Gerard was nowhere in sight, and though Frank knew he hadn’t been running all that long, Gerard could teleport. He’d wager that Patrick could do that as well, so there was no telling how far away they were by now. Shit, what if Frank never saw Gerard again? What if Gerard got hurt, and the last thing he remembered of Frank was him yelling in his face?

He decided to continue on his walk, his head held low, hands in his pockets. He was just going to have to go back to Jamia’s for now and hope that Gerard would come back for him.

But if he were Gerard, he would stay as far away from him as possible. 

***

“You did _what_?”

Jamia’s eyebrows were drawn together judgingly, arms crossed as she kept her eyes trained on Frank’s face. He sighed, unable to look her in the eye, instead finding himself staring at the floor. 

“I told him I didn’t want to be with him,” Frank repeated. He shifted a little on the couch, bringing his hands up and resting his face in them. “I didn’t actually mean it, of course, but...”

“Well, how would you have taken it if Gerard had said that to you?” Jamia sighed. She sat beside Frank, not too close but not awkwardly far away, either. “Where do you think he’s going to go if he doesn’t come back here?”

There was really no way of knowing, given that Patrick probably had a spaceship, but Frank decided not to tell Jamia that. She’d think he was even nuttier than she already did if he told her the truth. That Gerard was an...alien. Sometimes, Frank forgot that himself. He just looked and acted so human-like, for the most part, it was easy to forget that he could go back to space given the correct circumstances.

He and Patrick probably weren’t going there, though, if they were going to look for Mikey. They could however, be anywhere around the world, which was still not comforting. Shit, why had Frank never gotten Gerard a cell phone?

“Frank?” Jamia snapped her fingers in front of Frank’s face, gaining his attention once more. “I get that you’re upset, but...he’ll probably be back, you know? He can’t just live out on the streets.”

_No, but he can live in space on his space station,_ Frank thought bitterly.

“You’re right,” He said simply, trying to at least humor Jamia. He made himself more comfortable on the sofa, finally looking up at her. “Hopefully he doesn’t hate me enough not to come back.”

Jamia rolled her eyes. “That guy could never hate you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Frank,” she told him, her voice getting softer at the end. She even gave him a little smile. “C’mon, brighten up. You’re usually happy, or at the very least snarky.”

Frank smiled back at Jamia, grateful that she was trying to help him, but he just really wasn’t feeling up to being happy right now. He’d been living comfortably with Gerard for nearly a week now. And though that didn’t seem like a very long time, they had a set routine that was now broken. Before that, he’d been in space for a couple of weeks, so now he didn’t even know how to function correctly on Earth. Or without Gerard, for that matter.

Jamia bit her bottom lip in thought. “Would you like it if I ordered us a pizza, or something? And we can watch whatever you want to.”

“You know what? That sounds great,” Frank smiled at her genuinely. He tried to perk up altogether, clear his mind, but a certain black-haired alien kept popping up. He kept smiling anyway.

Jamia’s face lit up, her lips stretching widely. “Great! I’ll order it right now.” She pulled out her phone, searching up the nearest pizza place, then called them.

 

Twenty minutes later, Frank and Jamia were sat on the couch next to each other, eating their pizza. Shaun of the Dead was playing on the TV, and even without Gerard being there, Frank actually found that he was enjoying himself.

It was starting to get dark outside, and there was still no sign of the alien. Frank’s heart sank when he realized it, but he pushed right through it, putting his attention on the movie instead. Every once in a while, Jamia would make a witty remark about whatever was happening, and it cracked Frank up every time. She’d smile smugly, as if she’d achieved something great. It made Frank feel warm inside.

He hadn’t had any actual friends since...shit, eighth grade. And even then, they hadn’t been that great of friends in the end, given that he couldn’t even recall any of their names now. He’d forgotten what it felt like, to enjoy another person’s presence without being romantically attracted to them. There was Ryan at the store, of course, but he was his boss and they hadn’t really hung out otherwise. He was still a cool dude, though.

Gerard had been different from the very start, if Frank thought about it. He’d always thought he was cute, first of all, and then there was always just something...there. Maybe not back in the cafeteria like a month and a half ago, but in Gerard’s spaceship for sure.

Damn, no matter how hard Frank tried, his thoughts always drifted back to Gerard. He really did want to pay attention to the movie, but that just seemed impossible at this point. He sighed, setting his now-empty plate down, looking over at Jamia.

“I really miss him,” Frank blurted out. He didn’t give a name, but he was sure Jamia would know who he was referring to. She looked over at him, a sympathetic look gracing her features. “I just...don’t feel right without him. It’s weird.”

“I’m sure he feels the same way,” Jamia’s voice was soft, sincere. Frank really wanted to believe her, but how could he know for sure? “He probably just thinks you don’t want him back here. After all, you told him to get lost, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did,” Frank sighed. “God, I wish I had a way to contact him.”

Jamia looked surprised. “He doesn’t have a cell phone? What is he, sixty years old?”

_Good question, actually._ How old _was_ Gerard? He could’ve been hundreds of years old for all Frank knew. He hadn’t even thought about that, but now it wouldn’t leave his mind. Regardless, he shrugged.

“He said his old one broke. We were supposed to get him a new one when he got paid,” Frank lied. It was kind of scary how easy lying came to him, but that was probably a result of having an abusive parent. “We never got to do that, obviously, so...no cell phone.”

Jamia frowned but said nothing. Frank wasn’t sure what to say to that either, so instead he focused back in on the movie.

_Where are you, Gerard?_ he wondered, feeling miserable. He had to come back for him sometime.

Right?

***

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks since Frank had last seen Gerard. If he didn’t know any better, he’d almost question if Gerard had ever even existed. He was untraceable -- there was no evidence that he had ever been on Earth, and Frank could’ve dreamed the whole space thing. He didn’t really think he was creative enough to do that, but your brain could whip up some weird shit if you tried hard enough.

But he knew that was ridiculous, because otherwise, how else had he gotten to Jamia’s? There was no other way he could’ve gotten to Primm, Nevada, from New Jersey. He didn’t have his own car, and he didn’t have any money for a plane ticket. He knew that it had all been real, but it made it hurt just a little bit less if he pretended that Gerard didn’t exist.

The first week was really hard, obviously. Frank had gotten so mopey that Jamia had given up on him altogether, and Frank really couldn’t blame her. She’d still order him food and stuff when he didn’t feel up to it, which was super nice of her, but she didn’t attempt to cheer him up that much.

Ryan had even asked him what was wrong on the third day, noticing that Frank was even less excited to be at work than usual. He’d snapped at three customers within the hour, which Ryan had gotten a little angry about at first. Though when he’d seen the look on Frank’s face, he’d eased up a little. Frank decided to tell him the truth, well as close to the truth as was possible; that Gerard had broken up with him and then left him. Ryan seemed to understand then, but he did warn Frank not to snap at any more customers.

On the fifth day, Ray had come in the music store to ask Frank where the hell Gerard was. Frank told him that he had no clue, which was the truth, and Ray looked very troubled.

“He’s not fired,” Ray had decided. “I mean, I’m literally the only one that works there other than him. So if he does come back, let him know that he still has the job, I guess.”

Frank told him that he’d definitely do that, if Gerard ever came back. Ray’s troubled look didn’t ease up any, but he left the music store, leaving Frank alone. Well, Ryan was in the back, but he didn’t seem like he wanted to be near Frank any more than Jamia had. That was okay, though. Frank didn’t feel like he deserved their sympathy anyway.

Today marked the second week that Gerard had gone, and Frank felt numb.

He’d pretty much accepted that Gerard was never going to come back. It was only human for his brain to try and finally move on, so that he didn’t drive himself totally insane. He still thought about him, of course, but it wasn’t nearly as suffocating as it had been.

He saw Ray on his lunch breaks sometimes, and he informed him each time that he still hadn’t seen Gerard. Ray would always frown and murmur something about Gerard being a great employee, and Frank would always try to tune him out. It was easier not to think about Gerard when other people didn’t talk about him, either.

Jamia started hanging out with him again. They’d went shopping a few times together, even ate at a nice restaurant once when Frank finally got paid. He knew he should be saving up for his own apartment, so that he’d have an actual bed rather than the sofa, but it was nice to splurge sometimes. And Jamia didn’t seem like she wanted to kick him out anytime soon, either, so he figured that it was okay. He and Jamia had actually gotten pretty close in the two weeks Gerard was absent. It was all totally platonic too, especially on Frank’s side, and he could only hope that Jamia felt the same way.

They’d made plans to go the movie theatre just outside town, once they were both off work. It seemed suspiciously like a date to Frank, but he kept telling himself that Jamia didn’t mean it in that way. She really wanted to see that new horror movie that was out, and it probably wouldn’t matter if Frank was involved or not. 

He got to her house -- home at this point -- and flopped down on the sofa tiredly. He rubbed at his eyes, groaning. He didn’t have much time to rest, really, given that the movie was starting at around seven-thirty and it was already six. But he was going to relish whatever he could.

He turned the TV on, leaving it on the news, but muting it. He didn’t want the tinny noise from the crappy television to disturb his rest, but it felt weird to not have it on. Then he lay on his back, his arms behind his head, eyes shut.

The front door opened not long after that, which obviously meant that Jamia was home. Frank kept his eyes shut anyway, even with the knowledge that he wouldn’t be able to sleep for sure now. He was stubborn.

“Hard day at work?” Jamia mused, a teasing tone to her voice. She set her keys on the counter, opening the fridge and digging around in it. Frank resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Well, there _was_ this dumbass that came in,” Frank admitted. “He didn’t know the difference between John Travolta and John Lennon. I don’t even know why he bothered to try and make conversation with me.”

“Such a tragedy,” Jamia tsked softly, finding whatever she was looking for. It turned out to be a beer. She joined him on the couch shortly after, popping the cap with ease. “I only had a few customers, as usual.”

Frank shrugged, finally opening his eyes as he sat up. “At least they usually just pay for their gas and get out. Everyone at the music store wants to talk, and most of the time it’s about shitty kinds of music.”

“Just because you don’t like the genre, doesn’t make it shitty,” Jamia chided him. “Though honestly, I wouldn’t want to do that either.”

Frank made a small noise in agreement, letting the silence grow between them. He didn’t really want to talk, he wanted to rest. Jamia took the hint, tipping her beer back, eyes on the TV. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head, suddenly. Frank furrowed his eyebrows at her.

“What?” he asked. She pointed her finger toward the TV screen, a shocked expression on her face.

“I’m not even drunk yet, so I know I’m not imagining things,” she muttered. Frank looked over at the TV finally, his eyes widening too.

_There was a fucking spaceship on the news._ And Frank knew exactly who it belonged to.

He grabbed the remote, turning it off of mute immediately, turning the volume up to a reasonable level.

“...a man with black hair was seen floating up to it, followed by another shorter man with blonde hair,” the news lady was saying. Disbelief was written all over her face. “We’re not sure what exactly this vehicle is, but we are most certainly going to find out.”

Frank felt his heart drop into his stomach. If anyone tried to attack Gerard, he’d likely just...let them. He was such a nice guy, he wouldn’t fight back. Patrick was overly polite, that much was true, but maybe he would actually do something. If he did though, it would be an all-out war between aliens and humans if Patrick mortally injured anyone. It was bad news either way.

What if the dumb fake war between Patrick and Pete turned into a _real_ one? What would happen then?

“Do they think it’s fucking aliens?” Jamia asked, a little hysterical. “I mean...that’s just not possible. Aliens aren’t real.”

Frank wanted to tell her so badly, but...what would she think of him then? Either way you looked at it, Frank was still crazy. He’d willingly went into space with an alien, and ended up falling in love with him.

“Um...you never know,” he said instead. Jamia whipped her head around to give him an incredulous look. “What? I want to believe.”

“Don’t turn into Fox Mulder on me, Frank,” Jamia groaned, tossing her head back into the couch. “Jeez, does this mean we won’t be able to go see the movie? I was really looking forward to that.”

Frank shrugged. He had bigger problems to worry about, now that he knew that Gerard was out there, and that he was still in the state at least. Pretty local at that. He could find him, let him know that he hadn’t meant anything he said, and they could be together again. Sure, Patrick wouldn’t approve, but honestly fuck that guy.

“I mean, we still could,” Frank said. “But people might be going a little crazy over the prospect of extraterrestrials.”

“Why don’t you seem phased at all, Frank?” Jamia frowned. She crossed her arms, giving Frank a weird look. “Normally, people would be put-off by aliens...so what’s your deal?”

That was it. He was just going to have to tell her, wasn’t he? She was going to judge him no matter what he did at this point. The truth was, he hadn’t even freaked out that badly when Gerard had first abudcted him, but that was reasonable given the situation he’d been in. Still, any ‘normal’ person would have been more than a little shocked. Frank had freaked out for less than five minutes.

“What if I told you,” Frank began, a little nervously. “That I already knew that aliens existed?”

Jamia raised an eyebrow at him, clearly unimpressed.

“I’m serious, Jamia,” Frank shook his head. He’d known that Jamia wouldn’t believe him, but he had to try anyway. “I know an alien really well, actually. I’ve been to motherfucking space. The alien let me on his spaceship, and then he had to go off to war for a while, and then this other alien kidnapped me--”

“Who’s your LSD dealer? ‘Cause I wanna get in on that shit,” Jamia chuckled. Great, she wasn’t taking him seriously at _all_.

“You know what? Fine. Don’t believe me,” Frank grumbled, standing up. “I’m going to go find him myself.”

“Find who, Frank?” Jamia asked, furrowing her eyebrows. “Gerard? What does he have to do with any of this?”

Frank crossed his arms. “Gerard’s the alien I had a cosmic encounter with a long time ago, and he’s also the one that the news people saw get on that spaceship. He teleported away from me when I told him to get lost, and he’s currently looking for his brother alongside his alien overlord. Believe me or not, I’m fucking leaving, you can either come or go. But I love him, Jamia, and I don’t wanna see him get hurt because of this bullshit.”

Jamia looked up at Frank blankly. She seemed like she still wanted to not believe him, simply because he sounded ridiculous right now. But Frank had made sure to keep his tone as serious as possible, keeping perfect eye contact with her. She had to believe him. 

She finally stood up, shaking a little.

“I’m not gonna let you go off on your own,” she spoke after what seemed like hours. “I believe that you think you know what’s happened, but I’m not sure I can exactly wrap my mind around...aliens. So I think it’s best if I come along.”

Frank shrugged, turning and walking toward the door, snatching Jamia’s keys along the way. “Great, we can take your car then, if you don’t mind. Where did the news say they last spotted the ship?”

“Umm...somewhere around here, I guess. I only have the local news.”

“Okay, good, so they’re still closeby,” Frank felt relieved. He opened the front door, waiting for Jamia to catch up with him. She followed reluctantly, and Frank made his way to the car. It was only when he reached it that he realized something. He turned to Jamia slowly.

“I don’t know how to drive,” he admitted, tossing her the keys. She caught them with ease. “So...you’re gonna have to drive...”

Jamia shrugged. “That’s okay, I like driving. Get your ass in the passenger’s side, then.”

Frank smiled sheepishly, opening the side door and getting inside the car. 

***

After driving around for an hour, and seeing no trace whatsoever of Gerard or Patrick, Frank and Jamia gave up. Frank was starting to lose hope, and he didn’t think that Jamia would be too happy to drive around in circles for much longer. In the end, they decided to go and catch that movie after all, since they hadn’t missed it yet.

Jamia seemed enthralled by it the entire time they sat there, a bucket of popcorn in her lap and a few boxes of candy at her side. Frank hadn’t gotten anything for himself, and he could hardly pay attention to the movie. It didn’t really seem all that great anyway, so he figured he wasn’t missing out on much. Jamia elbowed him, pointing at the movie and making a pouty face.

“Watch the movie, Frank,” she hissed. “There’s no point in tormenting yourself, okay? Just try and enjoy yourself. Your entire life doesn’t revolve around Gerard, does it?”

“Well, I don’t have much else,” Frank snapped, forgetting just where they were. Four people shushed him, one woman even reached out and bopped him on the head. Frank whipped his head around to glare at her, but she simply smirked. Frank opened his mouth to let out an aggravated huff, turning back around so that he was facing the screen. He tried to ignore Jamia’s low snickering from next to him.

So she wanted him to watch the movie that badly? Fine, he would. He made his mind carefully blank, eyes widened as far as they could go for optimal movie-watching. He was actually immersing himself in it quite well, once he’d let go of all the other thoughts that clouded up his head.

In fact, he was actually super interested at this point. Why hadn’t he been paying attention at the beginning? Nothing made sense at all now. He grumbled to himself, making sure to keep his voice low to avoid another bopping session. 

All too soon, the movie was over. Frank was left with a chilling feeling at the ending, giving Jamia a frown. She shrugged back at him, a trace of a smile on her lips. She hadn’t understood anymore than he had. He sighed, standing up from his seat and stretching out his arms as high as they could, forgetting all about the rude lady that had bopped him on his head. That was, until that very woman tapped him on the shoulder.

Frank wasn’t going to let her know she’d gotten to him. Instead, he smiled, turning to face her. 

“Yes, can I help you?”

“I hope I’ve taught you a lesson,” she spoke, her tone scathing. “You shouldn’t talk during movies, it’s disrespectful!”

Frank crossed his arms, glaring at the woman. “Funny, I didn’t know you were my mother. You should take a step back and realize that you don’t actually know a thing about me. Maybe you shouldn’t assume that I’m talking because I want to be disrespectful. I’ve had a really hard life, and I don’t really deserve your bullshit right now. I’m so fucking sorry that I interrupted your movie, it really is tragic. But there’s more to life than a fucking moving picture on a screen.”

The woman took a step back, eyes wide.

“I-I only assumed...I mean, you’re very young--”

“Have a good evening,” Frank snapped. He then reached over and grabbed onto Jamia’s hand, walking past the woman and towards the exit. When they made it outside of the building, Frank finally looked at Jamia. Her eyebrows were raised, she seemed almost impressed.

“Damn, there’s the sassy Frank I’m used to,” she spoke. Her eyes trailed across his face, frowning the entire time. “But...it’s not the same.”

“I’m sorry I can’t be the same sassy Frank,” Frank sighed. He brought a hand up to wipe at his face, feeling stressed. “I just...haven’t been feeling like myself, ever since Gee left.”

“I know,” Jamia said quietly. She looked down at the ground, the wind picking up around them and making her hair flap in the wind. “I’m sorry he left, Frank, and I wish we could find him. I just want you to be happy again.”

Frank shrugged. The thing was, he’d been growing used to the idea that Gerard would never come back, but then there he was on the news. He was obviously still around, he just didn’t seem to care enough about Frank to come and see him. To make sure that he was still alive. That hurt Frank more than Gerard simply leaving the country would have.

“Let’s just...go home.”

Jamia nodded, walking by Frank’s side to the Corolla.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE. I've been working on my other fic - Faith is Unavailable - mostly, though honestly I haven't even had much time for that either. But I'm going to try my best to work on this one, too! It's actually a lot easier to write than FIU usually, given that it's normally so much fluffier, although it wasn't like that in this chapter :'(
> 
> No spoilers or anything, but don't get too discouraged by the turnabout of this chapter <3 This is a happier fic for a reason, it's not going to end badly or anything. Don't give up on the Frerard just yet - Frank definitely hasn't! Also, don't think too badly of Gerard for not trying to contact him. He's got his own side of the story, his own feelings that Frank hurt. Things will all come together soon...maybe even in the next chapter ;o


End file.
